The statist dominoes have been falling for decades. First it was the communist USSR, which scared China’s communists into revising their system, but only enough to forestall, not prevent, its eventual end. “Democratic socialism” and its kissing cousins, the welfare states, are next. During the next couple of decades, SLL looks forward to the demise of many of them. From Pater Tenebrarum at acting-man.com:
The Best Thing About the EU is J.C. Juncker’s Alcoholism
We recently discussed the post-Brexit landscape with a friend (in fact, our editor), who bemoaned that “the EU is led by a drunkard”. Our immediate reaction to this was to exclaim: “That’s the best thing about the EU!”
J.C. Juncker’s beady, greedy eyes are firmly fixed on the goodness emerging from the wine bottle… Photo credit: François Lenoir / Reuters
Why do we think so? It makes this overpaid, useless bureaucrat human. Not only that, it clearly raises his entertainment value. As our regular readers know, we have insisted for many years that entertainment value is the by far most important criterion by which a politician’s worth should be judged.
The reason for this is simple: it is nigh impossible to achieve fundamental change by voting. Similar to everybody else, politicians and high-level bureaucrats act first and foremost in their self-interest. A young person deciding to enter politics may well be driven by antiquated notions of “public service”. Such ideas are quickly discarded once a political career actually begins.
A great many politicians are also psychopaths. Who knows what they would be up to if their jobs didn’t exist? Again, it is fairly simple to come to this conclusion – one doesn’t have to study psychology to arrive at it. The mere fact that these people want to have a job in which they will exercise power over others is already a strong hint as to their mental state (we acknowledge that there have been a few extremely rare exceptions to the rules laid out here, such as e.g. former Hong Kong governor John Cowperthwaite, Ron Paul, or Godfrey Bloom – but these people were/are really “anti-bureaucrats” and “anti-politicians”).
Note that this is quite different from commercial relations, which are based on voluntary agreements. In a market economy even relationships that are commonly misinterpreted as being adversarial and involving the exercise of power over others, such as e.g. those between a boss and his workers, are in fact voluntary.
The relations between a boss and his employee are strictly circumscribed by a voluntary agreement between them – which both parties can end at anytime they wish. A worker can simply tell his boss “I don’t like you, I quit” – and that will be that. Since companies must compete for labor, they actually have a strong incentive to keep their workers happy.
On the other hand, if you were for instance setting up a bank without asking the bureaucracy for a license, men with guns will soon be at your doorstep and dissuade you rather forcefully. If you tell them: “I only want to offer a service to others on a voluntary basis. I am harming no-one and therefore believe I should not have to ask anyone for permission”, you will quickly learn that there is absolutely nothing “voluntary” about your relationship with the government.
To continue reading: The Coming End of the “Third Way” System
