Regulatory Smoke and Mirrors

Nobody asked but …

Of the hundreds of thousands of pages of regulations coming from any state, which ones are drafted by experts.  The answer is, none.  If the drafters were experts, there would be no regulations, none.  If the drafters just understood the concept of unforeseen consequences, there would be none.

Most regulations, no matter how innocently undertaken, are done, in the end, to feign knowledge.  To pretend regulatory presence is the purpose.

Cops want the hoi polloi to perceive their acts as crazed, capital punishment without due process, as a possibility.

It’s the Ryne Duren technique.  Ryne was a relief pitcher for the Yankees — he had awesome speed, cokebottle-bottom eyeglasses, and no control whatsoever.  According to Wikipedia, Casey Stengel said, “I would not admire hitting against Ryne Duren, because if he ever hit you in the head you might be in the past tense.”

Warriors often use this logic — scare the living daylights out of your opponent, to have them disabled by their imagined fear.  Harry Truman did this to the soviets with Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Pretense carries the day.

— Kilgore Forelle