Control

[unixronin]

From Oleg Volk by way of mrmeval:

And he's right.  Few "laws" bite as many people as the law of unintended consequences.  The world is full of people who want to give government the power to control and restrict the actions of other people whom they disapprove of.  Those selfsame people usually scream bloody murder when that same power is used on someone else's behalf to control and restrict their actions in turn.  "But they can't DO that!!!  We're in the right!!!"

Guess again, buddy.  What goes around, comes around.  It is stupid and foolhardy to give government power to use against someone else, without the expectation that it will some day turn around and use that power against you.

Government is not about right.  Government is about power.

Good intentions will always be pleaded for every assumption of authority.  It is hardly too strong to say that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions.  There are men in all ages who mean to govern well, but they mean to govern.  They promise to be good masters, but they mean to be masters.

— Daniel Webster

Comments

[elegantelbow.livejournal.com]

But, it looks like the Texas Statute (http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/PE/content/htm/pe.009.00.000043.00.htm) bears up the idea that it's a felony to own a dildo.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

I suppose the one consolation is that the idiots who dreamed that up could otherwise have been spending their time doing something really seriously harmful. I have this idea that in general, a desire to hold public legislative office is at least 95% likely to be indicative of one's complete unsuitability and unfitness to actually do so. But then, so far, just about all of my face-to-face meetings with elected public representatives have been with California ones. It's possible they're merely disproportionately vile examples of the sub-species.