The editorial page cartoon in today's Washington Post by Toles shows a TV newsperson reporting from piles of snow that "Washington is a frozen block of ice, and nothing is happening, moving forward, or advancing." A balloon from the Capitol building says, "Now we have an excuse!" and down in the lower corner it says, "Every day is a snow day in Washington." In any case, I often see or hear libertarians declaring the virtues of "Washington doing nothing," although presumably they might prefer that Washington acted to shut itself down permanently.
I understand that Washington D.C. has one of the highest homeless rates in the US. What's happening to the homeless? Are they going to be finding bodies when the snow melts?
ReplyDeleteGood point, gordon, although the problem is pretty bad in Baltimore and Philadelphia, which have also been hit pretty hard. I do not know what any of them are doing. Here in Harrisonburg we got 32 inches, and the late evening local news had a story about charity shelters trying to accommodate such as the one run by the Salvation Army.
ReplyDeleteA "white-out" resulting from a blizzard is not the equivalent of a tabula rasa. But I assume libertarians would want the government to clear away the snow so libertarians can do their thing. Of course a "true" libertarian might say such removal should be a private, individual matter.
ReplyDeleteShag,
ReplyDeleteHow many libertarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
None: The bulb will screw itself in.
I often wonder about glibertarians in times like these. Why isn't anyone shoving a microphone under some of their more high profile noses and asking them to comment publicly on their opinions about government services?
ReplyDeleteThe Atlantic's Megan McArdle, the blogger formerly known as "Jane Galt," has been comedy gold.
ReplyDeleteMake your own snide asides or read along at The Hunting of the Snark blog.