Good Reading on the "Nanny State"

This link takes you to a short essay and then many interesting and informed comments. It's an interesting and somewhat intellectual read...that doesn't take long. Here are some take-outs:

"Ted and I spent much of this last weekend discussing various things that are wrong, and how to fix them, and it really comes down to the fact that everything leading to the rise of the nanny-state cannot be fixed. There are too many corrupt bastards too happily taking advantage of too many acquiescent sheep. The number of sheep isn't going to decrease, therefore there will always be corrupt bastards. And until we can start lining them up against the wall wholesale, nothing about that dynamic is ever going to change." -- From the essay

"One of my favorite aphorisms is that people are liberals until their self-interest is invoked. We were rather liberal-er in our leanings before we actually had something to lose, ie. our children. " -- From a comment

"Historically, the answer has always been to pack up the top X% and ship off to the new frontier, leaving the mediocre and downright awful behind to wallow in their decay. Unable to fix the system, the ultimate solution is to start over somewhere else. It's a sociological filtration process.Unfortunately, there's no place on Earth left to go that is out of reach of the people that need to be gotten away from." --From a comment

"...the trick is either keeping the sheepdogs from turning into wolves, or turning the wolves into sheepdogs. Which makes it a matter of accountability. People wouldn't be assholes nearly as often if someone was likely to catch them at it and do something about it. At which point you're in a who watches the watchmen situation." --From a comment

Worth reading the whole thing.. -- FJD