Quote of the day—Michael Z. Williamson

A handful of effective assassinations a year would make the Ruling Class aware that the ultimate democratizer is death, and that the constituents they claim to represent expect results, or preferably, inaction, to endless blather followed by pointless regulation and jackbootery.

Michael Z. Williamson
December 26, 2017
Why America Needs More Violence
[I prefer trials, but one of the more persuasive counter arguments is that those of the Ruling Class are not going to subject themselves to a trial when they know everyone is guilty.—Joe]

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4 thoughts on “Quote of the day—Michael Z. Williamson

  1. Reminds me of the novel “Term Limits” by Vince Flynn. The reality is of course that this sort of thing would probably backfire quite badly, more like a Matthew Bracken novel.

    Then again, this quote pretty much amounts to an updated version of the famous quote from Jefferson (the full one, not the half a sentence abbreviation usually quoted):

    “What country before, ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure” — Thomas Jefferson, in “In Defence of Rebellions”, letter to Col. Smith, November 13, 1787.

  2. Williamson, like many commentators today, conflates the notion of cops being fallible which they all are (like the rest of us), with the notion of cops being homicidal maniacs which is quite rare. It is, unfortunately, not non-existent any more than it is in the general citizen population. Fallibility can be dealt with by more and better training and different rules of engagement between citizens and government. We could start by not making so much of life illegal (often in pursuit of revenue rather than safety) and thus inviting interaction with the police. The maniacs simply have to be punished.
    However, by mixing the two problems, Williamson makes it harder to solve either.

    • I’m not sure if he actually mixes the two problems.

      There’s a piece of the puzzle, probably the biggest piece, which you hinted at. That is the fact that there is a vast body of laws that it certainly immoral and probably unconstitutional, whose purpose it is to control our behavior for no valid purpose. These laws cause very obvious harm in themselves (consider the many varieties of Prohibition). They also give the authorities an excuse to stop, search, arrest, and jail us. In all this, there is opportunity for things to go wrong. Partly that comes from fallibility. Probably in larger part it comes from wrong rules of engagement and the absence of accountability. For example, unless the police actually observe a crime in progress with their own eyes, I find it hard to see any valid excuse or constitutional authority for busting down a person’s door, especially under cover of darkness. But this is common practice, widely condoned, glorified by flashy new TV series, and rarely if ever punished.

  3. Well, certainly Hillary and Obama seem in no danger of ever coming to trial, despite what appears to be ample grounds for such.

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