Politics Can Be Fun

In the person of congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez, leftists have given us a combination of fanaticism, pomposity, arrogance,  abysmal ignorance, irrationality, and inflated sense of importance  that  can fairly be called stunning. In a group of four hundred and thirty five politicians, many of whom are serious jobs of work in those regards themselves, she has managed to stand out. 

Of course the leftists have no monopoly on any of this. This week a conservative Republican  representative in the legislature of my home state called vaccination sorcery, accused a person who disagreed with him of being a communist, and, denying that scientific and technical progress saves lives, announced that only God Almighty can do that. His performance rates as stunning as well  and would have for most of the last three hundred years.

It is tempting simply to enjoy the farce and laugh these characters off.  They are ludicrous enough. However when one realizes  that they have power and  followers (and in her case a good percentage of the people in the traditional media acting as her  press agents),  the whole thing becomes not quite as funny as one would like it to be. It is still funny enough though.  It should also be a help to someone pondering the questions of how much power governments should have and whether there are reasons to expect wisdom and competence from legislators and officials. For these two, while perhaps somewhat exceptional, are far from alone.  

Straws

An observation attributed, perhaps inaccurately, to Yogi Berra: “you can observe a lot by watching.”

It is hard to argue with that. It is also true that sometimes you can observe something useful by paying attention to things which, on the surface, seem too silly to be worth watching. In the last couple of weeks some  politicians and  self-styled  activists have  been on a crusade against plastic straws. Governments in several cities have banned the things (with at least one making offering a person one a jailing offense), and a sorry troupe of weak kneed corporate executives  at Marriott, Disney, and other outfits have taken the pledge and promised that lips that touch straws will never touch theirs.

The natural first reaction is to write or laugh this off as just one more absurdity of a fairly mad world.  No sensible person cares what sort of straw his neighbor drinks through. But there are plenty of obnoxious  busybodies  who seem to live to force their puritanical  desires of the moment on  their fellow citizens without regard to fact, cost, or anyone’s rights. They flit from cause to cause and sometimes get what they want from obliging officials.  It may be that the poor plastic straw industry is  the more or less randomly selected target of the day and  one unlucky enough to be hit with a bullseye. This could just be  a case of what Governor Lepetomane came up with next. There is always that. 

However there could be more to it. The idea of taking to the barricades or passing laws  over somebody sipping a coke or  latte through a straw belongs in a low farce or an  over the top political satire.  Even a few months ago  people would have hooted at the suggestion it might happen. Yet  politicians have embraced and acted on this one quickly and strongly. It is worth guessing why.  It could be that its absurdity is one of the things leftist politicians find attractive about it. If your  purpose requires getting people in the habit of obedience, forcing something on them that both you and they know makes no sense and has the potential to annoy  them to boot can make a lot of sense.