John Myles White: Die Sudelbücher

The Pew Research Center reported yesterday that the voters of 29 states have already approved bans on same-sex marriage.

For me, this observation highlights the absurdity of the naïve apotheosis of populism and democratic institutions that constitutes a core element of the contemporary Western zeitgeist. We tend to take for granted that democracy is something intrinsically good, an assumption that gives strength to the growing scorn we see in our society for “elitism” or any other movement that threatens to usurp the will of the people. We Americans seem to invariably forget that, while democratic institutions may sculpt our society in accord with the will of the people, this in no way implies that the people’s vision of a perfect society is something we should wish to see given form. Democracy does indeed give power to the people, but it does not and can never give the people the moral integrity to put that power to proper use.

Indeed, if the age-old adage that “power corrupts” is true, then democracy might even contribute to the moral and intellectual degradation of the populations of democratic nations. Or, as seems more likely, the age-old adage is simply wrong: corruption is a part of the human inheritance, and power, like alcohol, simply brings that latent vice to the forefront.

Before I close, I should note that this is not a peculiarly American problem, though I know many people who would like to claim so. After all, the Swiss are about to vote on a law that would permanently ban the construction of minarets.

Really, when I think of all the crimes that democratic nations commit against their own moral codes, it’s enough to make me wonder if William Henry Vanderbilt was onto something when he said, “the people be damned.”

Evidently, Barack Obama still intends to impose involuntary servitude upon our nation’s youth. To quote Obama’s new website, Change.gov:

The Obama Administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-Elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by developing a plan to require 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.¹

Fortunately for those of us troubled by this scheme, it seems like that it won’t take very long for the Supreme Court to rule that such a proposal violates the 13th Amendment, which reads,

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.²

There is, of course, one solution to the daunting problem the Constitution creates for Obama: we can simply make it a crime to be a teenager. Who likes that idea?

1. Change.gov : America Serves↩
2. United States Constitution : Thirteenth Amendment↩

I must say: it would be absolutely amazing — and truly wonderful — if Barack Obama were to choose Larry Summers as his Secretary of Treasury.

In case this article hadn’t convinced you that the TSA is a waste of taxpayers’ money, maybe this article will help. Not only is the TSA pointless: it’s filled with crooks who use its irrational regulations as a cover for their own greed.

So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.¹

From the end of a piece by Christopher Buckley in which he explains his endorsement of Barack Obama and his subsequent resignation from the National Review, the conservative magazine that his father founded.

The piece as a whole strikes me as the perfect companion to David Mamet’s “Why I Am No Longer a ‘Brain Dead Liberal’.”

HT to Marginal Revolution.

1. Christopher Buckley : Sorry, Dad, I Was Fired↩

Democrats always complain about income inequality, but this op-ed would suggest they might want to foster it instead.

From an article on The Volokh Conspiracy describing the role and traits of swing voters in the U.S.:

The voters who know the least are the ones who tend to determine electoral outcomes.¹

1. Ilya Somin : The Volokh Conspiracy : The Political Ignorance of Swing Voters↩