No Geneva Convention rules here!

Buried in an article on teenage rent commissars at the Berkeley Daily Planet, I found confirmation of one of my pet theories about why aggrieved citizens refuse to involve themselves in the political process. The reason given here -- by Berkeley landlord Michael Wilson, who refuses to run for the Berkeley rent control board -- is a classic:

"Paying for this bureaucracy is a joke," said BPOA President Michael Wilson. "They refuse to come to grips with the fact that instead of spending $3 million on a program that is less and less important, the money should go directly towards needy tenants."

So does Wilson plan on running a landlord slate to regain a foothold on the board for the first time since 1998?

"People would rather have their fingernails pulled off with rusty pliers than sit through those meetings," he said. "The answer is no."

The problem is, leftist windbags (and doubtless, some ideologues from the other side) love nothing more than to sit through these endless meetings. They feel important, and they can pontificate and debate all night.

I know. I used to attend such meetings.

Public torture. After a while, you're ready to agree to almost anything if only they'd just shut up and let you go home. (That's exactly how they win.)

posted by Eric on 06.16.04 at 11:11 AM





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Comments

Windbag leftists? What exactly does that mean? Are you of the thinking that leftists are commies?

Tobias   ·  June 16, 2004 04:23 PM

Whether leftists are commies depends on the leftist. It's not red baiting unless you use a large "C"....

Eric Scheie   ·  June 16, 2004 11:15 PM

I don't care much about punctuation when it comes to blogging. But the question I really wanted answered was what do you qualify as a "windbag leftist." Can you give me an example? Al Franken? Howard Dean? James Carville?

Tobias   ·  June 17, 2004 04:40 PM

Actually, I was thinking about my personal experience as a Berkeley Police Review Commissioner, where I had to sit and listen to long left-wing harangues which would go on well into the night. Local Marxists; no one in the league of Franken, Dean, or Carville, who are at least interesting.

I was not saying that all leftists are windbags, nor that all windbags are leftists.

Eric Scheie   ·  June 17, 2004 04:49 PM


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