Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Washington Blizzards A Libertarian Paradise?

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.

6 comments:

  1. 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?

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  2. Good 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.

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  3. A "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.

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  4. Shag,

    How many libertarians does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

    None: The bulb will screw itself in.

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  5. 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?

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  6. The Atlantic's Megan McArdle, the blogger formerly known as "Jane Galt," has been comedy gold.

    Make your own snide asides or read along at The Hunting of the Snark blog.

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