It is interesting to watch the political interventionists’ frustration with the Icelandic volcanic eruption. Recent major earthquakes, and now a troublesome volcano, remind these people that nature has ways of acting that are beyond the powers of the statists to predict or control. I commented, a few days ago, that this crowd may go so far as to blame the volcano on global warming. A day later, Tom DiLorenzo informed us that the esteemed Diane Rehm raised that very question on her show! What next, shall she have guests on her program to explore the question of whether Congress could repeal the law of gravity, and thus prevent plane crashes?
This is the kind of intellectual blankout that passes for serious thought in our world today. The political objective is the expansion of power; the “crisis” is but the opportunity to promote such an expansion. I suspect that, if the volcanic ash continues to generate some economic dislocations, and when the more severe state-generated economic collapse occurs, the statists will insist that the volcanic ash was the cause of all our economic difficulties. They will resurrect their global warming agenda and propose even harsher legislation to prevent earthquakes, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions—events caused by human behavior which, in turn, causes depressions!
Public opinion polls will be taken to confirm such conclusions (after all, how can the forces of plate tectonics stand up to what 93% of the population believe?); the “funny papers” will editorialize on behalf of such nonsense; and, who knows, perhaps Al Gore can be prevailed upon—with the promise of another Nobel Peace Prize—to pontificate on behalf of the new secular religion!
11:28 am on April 21, 2010
