George Will writes this horribly reasoned column, yesterday, that really gets at what has worn on my last nerve during this political period.
"The government of this fiefdom south of Phoenix claims that when it approved Dale Bell's blueprint for his Western-theme restaurant with an outdoor stage in an enclosed courtyard, it assumed the stage would be used for mimes or poetry readings. Mimes in Arizona scrubland? Poetry at the San Tan Flat Steakhouse and Saloon? The authorities were, they insist, shocked when country music broke out, and they are scandalized because some customers, not content to tap their feet to the Western beat while they eat, get up and dance.
Foot tapping is, so far, still legal in Pinal County. Outdoor dancing is not, at least at a dance hall, and Pinal says San Tan Flat morphs into one at certain points on certain evenings, when customers dance and Bell does not make them stop. He thinks the U.S. Constitution's protection of self-expression encompasses the right to (in the language of his brief to the county court) 'sway, shuffle or even dance.'...
...But when the county imposed fines against Bell of $5,000 every day that anyone dances, he headed for court. The question concerns statutory interpretation. The statute includes "dance hall" -- along with bowling alleys, penny arcades, skating rinks and other things -- among the "amusement or recreational" enterprises that must be "within a completely enclosed structure." Does Bell's restaurant, which makes 99.75 percent of its revenue from food and drink (the rest comes from pool tables and trinkets) become an illegal (because not completely enclosed) dance hall when someone rises to "sway, shuffle or even dance"?
Down in the legal weeds, Arizona's tax code says dance halls charge admission fees. Bell does not. And there is no Pinal prohibition -- an oversight, perhaps? -- of outdoor musical entertainment.
Beyond the weeds there is this mighty oak of a principle: There must be a judicial leash on governments to prevent them from arbitrarily asserting that the plain language of a statute means something that it plainly does not say.
The 14th Amendment's guarantees of equal protection and due process of law should mean that government may interfere with a citizen's economic liberty only to promote important government interests that cannot be advanced through less restrictive means. Under today's weak "rational basis" standard, courts validate virtually any abridgement of economic liberty, no matter how tenuous the connection to even a minor public purpose. Conservatives, note well: Restoring economic liberty requires a kind of judicial activism -- judges judging rather than merely ratifying government's caprices.
Despite Pinal County's nit-picking, Bell, who is represented by Arizona's chapter of the Institute for Justice, is still in business, partly because his customers fancy the Maine lobsters -- not normal fare at dance halls. Children prefer marshmallows they roast over fires next to the space for the forbidden dancing. Roasting is not illegal in Pinal, yet."
Does George really believe that if this town outlaws dancing that it is a legitimate use of government authority even if "the plain language of a statute means something that it plainly does."
No, is the answer to that. Does he really believe that dancing should be outlawed anywhere? No. And if he did, would so many people be reading his columns? Of course not. Why doesn't he just say that. Because the of the forced reasoning of this godforsaken political period.
That's what bothers me about this period. All the goddamn lying.
Everyone tip-toeing their way around matters of liberty for fear that to do otherwise makes them an accomplice to terrorism, child rape, and other assorted evils of the world.
As if anyone who advocates liberty is really arguing that anything goes, which is the perpetual fear of liberal societies that keeps them from taking liberty seriously.
The truth is that we are cowards. And I don't have the stomach to keep watching this cowardice over and over again and pretend like it is better than it is.
The lying wears me down, is the truth. So does the pressure. And every new futile rule that is meant to save us from ruin.
Has it ever worked before?
The obvious answer to that is no. We just don't have the courage to face it.
I am tired. That's the design, actually, which is why I am so resistant to resigning on this one. But I'm tired. And I'm afraid people are too small to consider anything else for themselves.
And it all just makes me want to give up on humanity as this hopelessly fearful, stupid, unjust lot.
Why are we such chickenshits? Because we're just too goddamn scared, that's the truth.
All I know is that it leaves me not wanting to help this stupid, scared lot at all. Go do something more worthwhile with my time.
Something that doesn't involve lying, my whole life, about how people can be forced to be better than they really can.
