Looking Both Forward and Back

Take the time to watch this slide show passed on by a reader in Georgia for background and foreshadowing of the upcoming Obama administration.

Beck then points us to an introductory essay re the last large-scale practitioner of Barry's socioeconomic philosophy.

Rawles then follows in today's pastiche. Sample:

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...I predict that in the Raw Deal era, there will be a huge new raft of alphabet soup agencies that will simultaneously "share the wealth" (read: extract the hard-earned dollars from your wallet to inefficiently dole them out to others), "protect the environment and scarce resources", and bureaucratically scrutinize and control every aspect of your daily life. Do you think that you are heavily regulated now? Just wait for the Raw Deal. There will be bureaucrats prying into every conceivable aspect of your life and business, with proctological fervor. Do you detest having to get a smog inspection for your car? Just wait until you also have to get one for your lawn mower, your fishing boat engine, and your weed whacker. Do you dislike paying bridge tolls? Just wait until you are required to have a transponder mounted on your car so that you can be incrementally taxed for each mile that you drive. Here are some other possibilities: Taxes on fatty foods, new taxes on ammunition, taxes on "conspicuous consumption", taxes on "gas guzzlers", taxes on "above baseline" use of electricity, taxes on"wasteful" incandescent light bulbs, taxes on "cruel" leather products, tax stamps for marijuana (I'm not kidding!), taxes on golfing greens use, registration and periodic inspection (with an inspection fee, naturlich) for private "arsenals" (owning more than five guns and/or more than 500 rounds of ammunition), special taxes for anyone with more than a two car garage, taxes for anyone with more than 700 square feet of house per family member, taxes on homeschoolers (since they "deprive public schools of revenue"), taxes for "wasteful" home water use, an Internet sales tax, taxes for any family that owns more than two cars, and a European-style tax on each television that you own. You get the idea. The only limit to the depth to which the iron fist will be shoved into your wallet is the imagination of the bureaucrats and their group-think "focus groups". This will go on and on, and on, and on....
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That is, unless enough folks agree with this essay (also cited today by Rawles), and then act accordingly.

Alea iacta est.