Monday, August 15, 2011

The Anti-Deregulation Thought

One does not have to agree with all of this 'graf (I don't), but it is worth pondering.

...Somewhere along the way, however, this effort took on a life of its own. What started as a reasonable attempt at political rebalancing turned into a jihad against all regulation, all taxes and all government, waged by right-wing zealots who want to privatize the public schools that educate your workers, cut back on the basic research on which your products are based, shut down the regulatory agencies that protect you from unscrupulous competitors and privatize the public infrastructure that transports your supplies and your finished goods. For them, this isn’t just a tactic to brush back government. It’s a holy war to destroy it — and one that is now out of your control.”...Ritholtz quoting Pearlstein

In the end, the trick is to find the balance-point.  Clearly, the Leviathan State which has been a-building here since about 1900 is overstepping the bounds of common sense (see, e.g., the War Against Lemonade Stands).

But Sinclair Lewis was not a wacko.

3 comments:

jimspice said...

Funny you should bring up Hobbes. The thought that the TP has been advocating an almost complete return to the "State of Nature" has been rumbling through my head for the past several days.

As a side note, I went as the "the Leviathon" for Halloween my sophomore year of college. No one got it. They didn't get my "head cheese" costume junior year either.

Dad29 said...

Well, not ALL the TEA Party.

The single most fixated propagandist on this (that I can think of, anyway) is Dick Armey.

neomom said...

Most folks that I know want a reasonable balance, not anarchy. Interstate highways - yes! Regulating lemonade stands and church bake sales - No!

Negotiations... Never start where you want to end up. You always ask for more that you think you will get and get as much as you can.

'Cept the Paulbots... a good portion of them are just plain nuts.