Two pieces of good news, today, and one bad.
I showed up at the gym for my workout and though I've never discussed politics with him, my personal trainer says: "you didn't vote, did you?" Nope. With others standing around, he proceeds to tell me that when he was going over the list of appointments this morning, he thought of the election and then figured that every one of his clients would go vote, save one -- me. I was about his last and so far he was batting .1000. So for my money, it's astoundingly good news that I come off like that to people without even broaching the subject.
So then I figure, OK, since I've got them all here... I proceed to invoke the metaphor to Frédéric Bastiat's more concrete description of The State.
Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.
I think I read Billy calling it Cannibal-Pot Hysteria back in 2003 and I've been stealing it ever since. So I tell them: "It's all -- soup-to-nuts -- just about the hysteria surrounding a cannibal pot; who gets tossed in, who gets to feast."
They all laugh, so they get it. More good news. But then I have to wonder how it is that if someone gets it, why they would laugh. Then it dawns on me: everyone thinks they're going to get to feast.
Of course. That's is why they vote, right? So there's your bad news. If I watch the local news I can see one-off incidents of depravity cross my TV screen on a nightly basis. Today I get to witness mass depravity. Bea just informed me she didn't vote. It's her call and I wouldn't say anything if she did, but knowing she didn't just fills me with pride and joy.
So here's to being a good citizen (don't vote) and to being a good parent (teach your kids that it's pathetic scam for herds, depraved at that, and not worthy of a rational person's time or attention).
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Please spread the word
I am almost there. After going from political ignorance and apathy to libertarianism (and then discovering the various branches within that philosophy), I voted, but infrequently. Then after hearing and reading about Ron Paul for years, he joined the race and I was hooked. Now I see how foolish I was to get my hopes up – but on the other hand it is heartwarming to see others in the country who feel the same way. Some people don't want to be cannibals. So I think after Dr. Paul's run is over, I will give up what I've always considered a mathematically irrational act but also now understand is a moral trap, and refrain from standing over the pot.
Maybe it's like laughing at death; behind the laughter lay tears that won't come out. They want to stare evil in the face and laugh at it like Twain did, but they can't. The laugh is really hollow. When I've used such vivid metaphors to describe the essence of it (sorry Billy, I'm a thief too!) I get much the same; they know it's right, and they hate it, but they feel powerless to stop it. They laugh like they laugh at Carlin's nihilistic humor, because, as Heinlein observed, we rarely if ever laugh at good things.
Frank:
"I will give up what I've always considered a mathematically irrational act but also now understand is a moral trap, and refrain from standing over the pot."
Yep. In all my cheer leading for Paul, I never once suggested that we was offering to get rid of the Cannibal Pot. Not at all. His message is essentially that the Constitution prescribes a fairly small pot (relatively minuscule, compared to now), so let's go back to that.
My position is that I wouldn't complain. I'm not going to outright stand up and vote, but I'd sure be happy to see a smaller pot.
Of course, freedom and liberty are completely out of our reach for hundreds of years to come, probably — unless we just buy it for ourselves. You can't even get more than 5% of the population to go for limits already set in a Constitutional framework. Liberty? Out of the question. Absurd.
My comment is here, in my first-ever blog entry:
http://rashynullplanet.com/blog/2008/02/09/insulated-cannibals/