Cops harassing girl scouts, and the gov lawyer who defended this

[Bobnoxus]

Hello Ian and Mark.

I was listening to the podcast recently, and you were discussing a cop harassing the girl scouts for selling cookies without a permit. A lady called in saying things like "we have to have some permits or there'd be chaos", and "each community gets to decide what rules they want", and other such falsities (I'm sure the quotes aren't exact).

It was clear that she had experience with this type of debate and had the talking points, so it was no shock to learn that she was a gov lawyer. Ian seemed to dismiss her at this point, since she profits from the system. Maybe time didn't allow this, but I thought it was a missed opportunity to explain why her view of the world was violent and unecessary.

The reality is, this is what many, probably most, people think. This is how they rationalize gov control over their lives. If you profit from that system, it's very easy to rationalize why it's needed, so changing her mind may not have been possible, but a rational explanation of why that view is false could've benefited others who suffer from the same myopic vision.

It's clear that we don't need permits to prevent chaos; there are many examples. It might also have been interesting to ask her how it is that some people get to pass laws that demand permits from some businesses, taking away a liberty, and then gets to point guns at them to enforce it. When does that become "wrong", in her bureaucratic mind? I think it's always wrong, but of course, she doesn't, so let's see how bad it has to get before she starts having a moral problem with her job. Once she draws the line, can she defend it on principle, or will she have to rely on the old "if you don't like it you can work within the system to change it" mantra.

Again, the benefit would not be for her, although who knows what effect it might have. It's for others who have this same view, or hear it thrown at them in their own discussions, how "we" elect the gov, and how "we" created these laws, etc. Simply dismissing her wasn't very convincing except to those of us who already believe.

[FTL_Mark]

You are probably right. Thanks for the feedback.