Football, Pinball, and Freedom Tastes of Reality

Ah, bipartisan attention is being given to the nation’s top priority, namely: how football games are scheduled.  On a similar note, NYC’s Mayor LaGuardia, mere weeks after Pearl Harbor, announced he would be devoting substantial police effort to a crackdown on the menace of…pinball machines (a crusade that lasted about thirty years, until one pinball wizard demonstrated to the City Council that the game is one of skill, not just chance, thus making it something other than gambling, leading to repeal of anti-pinball laws here — I would not be surprised if that incident inspired the Who song).

Politicians just want positive-sounding attention and will combat any perceived menace or tout any perceived cure-all that gets them that attention, leading to re-election.  Would that self-described skeptics who can see the self-interest of ratings-seeking TV networks or advertising agencies turned just a fraction of that skepticism on government each time it announced it was going to do something.

It’s enough to make one want to learn about Ayn Rand all month long on Reason.tv and Reason.com, so why not do that?  This month is the twentieth anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down, and Rand would have wanted it that way.