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April 9, 2012
"Those who think our post-industral, end-of-history, high-tech economy has permanently banished the Four Hoursemen, will be surprised at their thundering hooves."
This woman doesn't care about our stinking laws, she knows that she can act with impunity and do anything, and we no longer have the willpower or finances to make her give up her scofflaw life. She has six kids to feed, and like LiLo, she'll be released in days, to continue as before. She's nickel and diming the public purse. Now multiply her by the millions. There are people, many these days, who live entirely on the public purse. We have a surplus of people, and since that purse is about empty, they will unavoidably be laid off. They live now on our compassion, and our unwillingness to confront the consequences of a large number of people bereft of all support. Tragedy cannot be denied, it can only be suppressed for a while. Those who think our post-industral, end-of-history, high-tech economy has permanently banished the Four Hoursemen, will be surprised at their thundering hooves. There is a tipping point: as more people go scofflaw because the consequences are benign, our ability or willingness to pay for law enforcement dwindles. And when we have reached that precipice, there will be a false choice: Hobbes' state of Nature, or Leviathan. False because the would-be Leviathans will claim it was Liberty that brought us there. The Blessings of Liberty do not accrue equally. Tragedy is non-specific: it strikes at us all, and only the hardest-working, most moral, and frugal are usually able to withstand its repeated attacks. If tragedy is forestalled by "spreading the wealth around", the priority to live a moral and productive life decays, until the Horsemen arrive unopposed. -- John A. Fleming commenting on Side-Lines: Shawndeeia Bowen: Mother of the Year, So FarPosted by gerardvanderleun at April 9, 2012 5:46 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
Those who think our post-industral, end-of-history, high-tech economy has permanently banished the Four Horsemen, will be surprised at their thundering hooves.
Now that is signature-worthy.
Posted by: rickl at April 9, 2012 6:16 PM
Best. This goes to my daughter, who is not sure that she wants to understand.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 9, 2012 9:26 PM
This will no doubt be blamed, as Heinlein said, on "bad luck".
Posted by: Cris at April 10, 2012 6:50 AM
"...And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!"
FROM:The Gods of the Copybook Headings by Rudyard Kipling
Posted by: monkeyfan at April 10, 2012 8:36 AM