As much as I detest tyrants, sometimes their creativity and ingenuity impresses me. At other times, however, they're just plain stupid. And I must say, for years now I think the quality of tyrants here in the U.S. has been declining sharply. I don't mean the recent tyrants have been worse people, just less competent tyrants. And that's a good thing for their intended victims.

 

Take, for example, Obama's Commie-Care.

 

(And for those of you still trying to pretend it isn't a socialist scheme, Max Baucus has admitted that the act was intended to remedy the "mal-distribution of income" in the country. Holy smokes! Hey Max, your Marxism is showing.)

 

A smart, competent tyrant looks benevolent by "giving" his subjects things, though he of course has to rob them first to pay for the things, since he creates nothing of value himself. So he downplays and obfuscates the taking part of his scheme, while loudly advertising the giving part, in order to look compassionate and generous. And most of the time, it works like a charm. The socialist congresscritturs (misnamed "Democrats"), for example, have acquired a reputation as being "caring and compassionate" by stealing your money, and then using it to buy the votes and to buy the dependency of various groups. (Meanwhile, they label you as "greedy" if you ever criticize the arrangement.)

 

That's a good tyrant trick. (By "good," I mean effective, not moral.) But if you want an example of a stupid tyrant trick, consider the Commie-Care bill that just passed. One thing it does is to coerce you into buying health insurance, by fining you if you don't. Now, whether a majority of the American public is smart enough to catch the irony remains to be seen, but consider the implied message: "Lots of poor, unfortunate people don't have health insurance! Um... so we'll force them to go buy some!" Hey, Obamoron, your tyrant propaganda stinks (and I'm happy about that).

 

Well, hey, if it works for health insurance, let's try the same method for other things! Lots of people are currently stuck driving around in old, cheap, falling-apart cars. I have an idea! Let's force everyone to buy big, new, expensive luxury cars! And some people live in tiny, rundown houses. I know! Let's force them to buy huge mansions! Wow, this will work great! Let's make a list of all the things we wish everyone had, and then punish anyone who doesn't run out and buy them! (This has to work, because as we all know, thanks to the Keynesian bozos enlightening us, spending is how a country gets rich.)

 

Even those who don't understand basic economics (i.e., 99% of the population) can sense a slight flaw in such a plan, at least in their own lives. "Um, you're concerned that I'm too poor to have health insurance ... so you're going to force me to go buy some? Gee, thanks. That's so compassionate of you."

 

I guess Obama hasn't read "How To Be a Successful Tyrant," because even a lot of the people he initially duped with his feel-good tripe are now waking up and smelling the dead fish in the coffee. But if you're not happy with him, just wait until Congress passes the "Everyone Happy Act of 2010," which will include a provision that says "Anyone who isn't happy must pay a $1,000 fine." That ought to work wonders.