Saturday

Bullets

How readable is your prose? This nifty tool lets you know. Based on a couple samples from TDE, it appears my readers need about an eighth grade education, which is probably why my wife finds some of my posts too difficult to enjoy (snicker). * * * * * * * Dan Bourdreaux at Cafe Hayek comes out and throws down: The state is a gain of bandits. It's good to find a kindred soul. It's also good to find a list of handy libertarian links. * * * * * * * I found this pithy summary of one reason government gets increasingly oppressive: "Modern-day central planners restricting the peaceful, voluntary activity of individuals in the name of achieving some grand collectivist end open up new dangers. Since their plans inevitably leave individuals worse off, people find ever-new ways to circumvent them. But the government doesn't take its failure as a sign that there might be something wrong with its ends–that perhaps they are out of sync with the normal aspirations of people. Rather, it blames the failure on an insufficient use of force. Thus an initial round of coercion inevitably spawns subsequent, even harsher rounds, putting the country on Hayek's 'road to serfdom.' * * * * * * * I also found this great Mencken quote: "Is government, then, useful and necessary? So is a doctor. But suppose that the dear fellow claimed the right, every time he was called in to prescribe for a bellyache or a ringing in the ears, to raid the family silver, use the family tooth-brushes, and execute the droit de seigneur upon the housemaid?" Mencken slays me.