You might not, since it was a whole nine days ago. But in light of recent events, it’s pretty funny.
President Barack Obama, Ohio State University, 5/5/13:
We the people chose to do these things together, because we know this country cannot great things if we pursue nothing greater than our own ambition. Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. Because what they suggest is that our brave, and creative, and unique experiment in self-rule is somehow just a sham with which we can’t be trusted.
We have never been a people who place all our faith in government to solve our problems. We shouldn’t want to. But we don’t think the government is the source of all our problems, either. Because we understand that this democracy is ours. And as citizens, we understand that it’s not about what America can do for us, it’s about what can be done by us, together, through the hard and frustrating but absolutely necessary work of self-government. And class of 2013, you have to be involved in that process.
Better them than you, Barry.
He’s right that the government isn’t the source of all our problems, which would be relevant if anybody was saying the government is the source of all our problems. That’s the great thing about a straw man: No matter how many times you knock it down, you can set it right back up again.
Government isn’t sinister. Government is indifferent. That’s why, when people inside the government are sinister, they can rely on the mechanisms of government to diffuse responsibility until it vaporizes into thin air.
I know a little something about that process.
Tell ’em what it’s all about, Ronnie:
