Illusions fascinate most of us when done by magicians, escape artists, and spiritualists who do seances. The excellent film noir Nightmare Alley that stars Tyrone Power comes to mind in its depiction of mind-reading illusions. Even optical illusions fascinate us. Government illusions do not. Governments do trickery all the time, but it’s not recognized as trickery. How many people in the audience even realize that governments everywhere are doing tricks and illusions, and that they are the ones being tricked? Ponzi schemes of government are everywhere. Promises impossible to keep (yes, Gary, there will be defaults) are made to seem possible by taking money from some people and distributing it to others, in the same way that Ponzi took money flowing in and paid some of it out as evidence of the viability of his scheme.
The trickery of government passes for lofty activity. Academics write learned articles about the virtues of government in resolving public good problems or providing infrastructure. I’ve never seen such an article ever doubt government’s magical capacity to solve these problems, or to handle them better than by voluntary means. The message is that force is the magic answer to any problem. Wise officials with guns and badges (you got it, Gary) bring us wall to wall income security, employment security, health security, education security, food security, safety security, drug security, and defense security. Their wands and batons are guns and badges. Their diverting hand and body motions are their speeches. Their swirling capes are their jokes and press conferences. Their cheerleaders are their presstitutes (you got it, Paul).
