Bill's Notes

So ole Nick's successfully tempted the governor of Illinois into acting corruptly, and tricked him into getting caught, and now we're all supposed to follow the twists and turns to see if ole Barry was connected, but he wasn't, cuz he's not that stupid, and in all likelihood it was Barry's people that dropped the dime on Blago. Anyway, I suggest Blago resign, we pardon and forgive him in exchange for disappearing forever from our public life, and move on with our political debate onto something important.

Distract, distract, distract -- I'd criticize the repetitiveness of the method, but it's very effective at destroying us people. that and flattering our vanity and all. You know, what if every time someone fucked up he or she apologized and we forgave him or her? Sure would be a different world.

I have scandal fatigue. I'm beginning to think the only systematic answer is for each president to pardon the next president in advance ...

Spengler focuses on the connection between morality and economics — I was writing a long essay on this subject, but Spengler's done most of the heavy lifting. The thesis is this: Economic success depends not so much on systems (though systems can screw it up) but on people's voluntary compliance with certain moral rules. When you get a critical mass of people who obey the rules and live in a system that preserves property and contracts, they don't need a lot of government.