Libertarian Doctrine in "Attack of the Clones"

Star Wars 2 has an interesting passage, one that fully comprehends politics.  Surprisingly insightful, for a George Lucas script....

OBI-WAN You look tired.


ANAKIN I don't sleep well, anymore.


OBI-WAN Because of your mother?


ANAKIN I don't know why I keep dreaming About her now. I haven't seen her since I was little.

OBI-WAN Dreams pass in time.


ANAKIN I'd rather dream of Padmé. Just Being around her again is... intoxicating.


OBI-WAN Mind your thoughts, Anakin, they betray you. You've made a commitment to the Jedi order... a commitment not easily broken... and don't forget she's a politician. They're not to be trusted.

ANAKIN She's not like the others in the Senate, Master.


OBI-WAN It's been my experience that Senators are only focused on pleasing those who fund their campaigns... and they are more than willing to forget the niceties of democracy to get those funds.

ANAKIN Not another lecture, Master. Not on the economics of politics.... It's too early in the morning... and besides, you're generalising. The Chancellor doesn't appear to be corrupt.


OBI-WAN Palpatine's a politician, I've observed that he is very clever at following the passions and prejudices of the Senators.

Argentines Don't Forget.

They don't fight effectively, and they have a woefully broken political and civil society.  But they don't forget.  From a friend traveling down south...

Random Observations on the EU crisis

Even if Draghi could wave a designer wand and make the Greek & Italian sovereign debt mountains go away, the Greek and Italian economies would remain horribly uncompetitive even vs. France, let alone Germany.

You know your central bank has little credibility when the market reaction to a promise to lend banks Euros at 1% for 3 years is to push bank stocks sharply down!

Saving the Euro is not the same thing as saving Europe.

There are actually worse things than countries expeditiously exiting the Euro zone; we may see some of them fairly soon.

It's hard for me to see how much blame falls on Germany. They reformed their economy and became super-competitive. People act like that was somehow nefarious.