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May 10, 2022

Thank goodness the U.S. Supreme Court seems to be ready to reverse Roe v. Wade. Because now, for the first time since January 6, 2021, it’s okay to protest again. And it’s okay to dox the home addresses of Supreme Court justices. And it’s okay to cry to the heavens that the world is coming to an end if the states get to set their own abortion laws.

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It must be really cool to be the ruling class and set the agenda: who is a racist and who is a victim; who is a protester and who is an armed insurrectionist; who is a hater and who is an activist.

As Nazi Carl Schmitt wrote, politics is all about deciding who is a friend and who is an enemy.

Imagine: if you are former President Obama you get to call for increased government power to control the insurrectionist speech of Trump supporters one week, and the inviolable right of protesters to protest the end of a Supreme Court ukase on abortion the next. It all depends on the enemy and whose dox is being gored

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I almost get the feeling that any ruling class is okay with a bit of rioting and destruction — so long as it’s righteously committed by its supporters. You see this even in the Stamp Act riots in North America in 1765. They didn’t fall out of a clear blue sky. The printed media of the time and local politicians like Patrick Henry were full of invective against the injustice and the “despotism” of burdening good honest North Americans with direct taxes. Anyway, the rioters only destroyed the homes of the tax agents. Mostly peaceful.

In other words, my nickel says that most political violence down the ages is done with a nod and a wink from the higher ups, the patricians, if you like.

After all, the whole idea of the state is that it has a monopoly on violence. What’s the point of a monopoly if you don’t take advantage of it from time to time, just a little?

So if you hear about activists peacefully protesting for justice, you are not exactly taking 80 to 1 odds on Rich Strike when you assume that the activists in question are lefties and approved by the ruling class, the educated, the media and the university: indeed the entire Cathedral. Hey, activists gotta activist.

What I don’t get is why the ruling class got itself into its current bind with double-digit inflation and the Fed having to crank up interest rates after two years of pedal-to-the-metal spending.

What is better for the political support of a political party? Control of the streets, or control of inflation? A ruling class can have a bit of fun any time gazing indulgently at its supporters enjoying a spot of rioting in the streets. But when inflation starts running riot then all bets are off, aren’t they, Jimmy Carter?