It’s no secret that Instapundit is a daily read – sometimes multiple times. Run by University of Tennessee Law School Professor and Libertarian Glenn Reynolds, it is a news aggregator with quick (mostly) quips with that libertarian bent. Like GraniteGrok, it morphed from being a single blogger site to a group one and then was absorbed by PJ Media. During that time, like us, he has developed a number of axioms that tell us his thinking about things – and they all wrap around his viewpoint of most (all?) politicians if they get the chance and history generally validates them:
Reynolds’ Laws
Reynolds’ First Law
“Subsidizing the markers of status doesn’t produce the character traits that result in that status; it undermines them.”
First thought that came to mind was Obama’s AFFH – the policy known for building “workforce” housing (think subsidized) in rich communities. It’s clear that Obama, being the Saul Alinsky devotee, believed that “others” discriminate by “removing their wealth from the poor” by moving into enclaves that then disenfranchised the poor; the Alinsky “the Have Nots taking from the Haves” mentality.
NOTHING in Obama’s ideological mindset ever questioned “Perhaps Culture had a role in this? Perhaps Personal attributes like self-reliance, self-responsibility, sticking to traditional norms of civility, and doing the “get an education, get a job, keep the job, get married (and STICK with that spouse instead of , then have kids – in that order). People who have done that are mostly well above the poverty line. They are successful – and with motivation and drive coupled with the ability to recognize opportunity with prior preparation t to take advantage of that, sometimes wildly successful.
It’s not “stealing” from anyone. But simply moving the poor into rich neighborhoods hasn’t and won’t work because you just can’t plunk people into those neighborhoods and expect instant success by osmosis. Unless the poor adopt those attributes that made the rich, Glenn is right. Just because you give people subsidized housing in those environs, it doesn’t force the poor to absorb the character traits that are needed to be there on merit. If “stuff” is given to the poor, was the incentive for them to learn how to acquire those things themselves?
Reynolds’ Second Law
“The more a government wants to run its citizens’ lives, the worse job it will do at the most basic tasks of government.”
Frankly, in just looking around, too many parts of Government has refused to do what it is SUPPOSED to do with Excellence. Instead, they run off into all kinds of other areas outside of their lanes (like schools becoming mental health institutions while the kids get dumbed down education, that libraries decided that they are community centers and after school daycares). The question of “What is The Proper Role of Government” isn’t just beyond their ken, it never, ever gets asked in the first place.
Reynolds’ Third Law
“Whatever politicians’ control, they will use against you to get what they want.”
First: want our “free money”? Agree to the strings attached and you can have it (like here in NH – Gov Chris Sununu wanted the Fed COVID money and was willing to give up our State Sovereignty to get it. Helping NH was really never the goal – it was having Sununu sign the agreement with binding language in that Biden can demand we do things THEIR way (AG Formella’s tepid words aside). Want all this other money? Jeb Bradley was happy to take that money for Medicaid Expansion – and the strings attached.
Just look around – I’m quite sure you can easily see lots. Here in Gilford, the skating ring, the “sidewalk to nowhere” and the band stand up front monies have put us on the long term hook for spending much more in the long term. While used, are they really worth the ROI and the strings attached?
Reynolds Fourth law
“Longevity of political service does not make a politician more qualified. It only ensures they are more corrupt.”
Quickly – longer service means knowing more people and more people wanting to be your best friend even more – and they want THEIR goals to become those politicians’ goal as well. And that takes, more often than not (especially when those pols finally go Swampy), more than just jawboning and being friendly….go ahead, think of those next few steps and what they lead up to.
Reynolds Fifth Law
“Proposed legislation will fail if there is not enough opportunity for graft or control”
Just remembering back to Obamacare and how all those Senators and Representatives who didn’t want to vote for it – but did after getting “carve-outs” for their States or special interest groups.
And then a few “lesser” (but no less true) corollaries:
Reynolds observations
- “Matriarchies exist primarily in failed or colonized societies, or in those about to fail or be colonized.”
When the nuclear family has failed, or has been incentivized by Government (see First, Second, Third, and Fifth), you generally do end up with female head of households. And they glorify it – just look at Obama’s infamous “Life of Julia” or Biden’s plagiarized (seems to be a long term habit of his) version of “Life of Linda” in which a husband is never in the picture – only Government.
- “Under capitalism, rich people become powerful. But under socialism, powerful people become rich.”
Why did the Chavez, Castro, and others become the richest people in their countries. Heck, we see the same thing (but Fourth and Fifth, above) where Federal politicians make it to Congress, sometimes almost penniless, and “retiring” with net worths in the millions.
- “Nothing that’s happened with this pandemic has made me want the government to play a bigger role in health care.”
Sununu: “Public Health trumps Everything”. ‘Nuff said and he made us live his meme (and destroyed our civil rights and the lives of many here in NH)
(H/T: Instapundit)
