The one thing people don’t do in a crisis is think . . . which is how we get still more government. From Geoerge F. Smith at lewrockwell.com:
If we look around, then, at the crucial problem areas of our society—the areas of crisis and failure—we find in each and every case a “red thread” marking and uniting them all: the thread of government. In every one of these cases, government either has totally run or heavily influenced the activity. — Murray N. Rothbard, For a New Liberty [emphasis mine]
As I write this wildfires are still burning around Los Angeles, and social media posts are aflame about the $770 payments government is offering to victims of the disaster. Further igniting their rage is the fact that billions of their former dollars continue to flow into contractors pockets to fight wars almost anywhere except here. Adding to this was the discovery that fire hydrants had no water, the LA fire department had ignored “extraordinary warnings of life-threatening winds,” and the reservoir in Pacific Palisades was dry.
And where was LA mayor Karen Bass? Attending a cocktail party in Ghana when the Palisades fire erupted.
Since government collects its revenue coercively, either through direct taxation or monetary inflation, citizens have little recourse for protest beyond what they are already doing. The standard practice of marching with protest signs or disruptive sit-ins might offer some psychological relief but not much else. Government doesn’t take orders from citizens unless they’re closely connected in some nefarious way, such as through blackmail, cronyism, or lucrative campaign donations.
What will $770 get you in CA a week’s worth of groceries?
This is the workers utopia you voted for with the CPUSA (D) comrades.
Never let a crisis go to waste.
Breaking from ZZ Top:
Pearl Necklace (from El Loco)