Last July, Spokane County passed a regulation banning dishwasher detergent with phosphates in an effort to reduce water pollution. The bureaucrats had their rationalizations: Phosphates supercharge algae growth which robs water of oxygen. This kills fish and, in sufficient quantities, renders water poisonous for children.Whatever.Predictably, the hippy dishwashing liquids without phosphate -- think Seventh Generation, a dishwashing liquid named after an Indian proverb (Indians didn't even use dishes!) -- leave grease and grime on plates. Some residents have begun driving to the next town over to purchase more muscular dishwashing agents. As Eric Erickson says, "Washington State has turned its residents into a group of drug runners — crossing state lines to buy dish washer detergent with phosphate." It's like Dune, only Washingtonians are trying to remove spice rather than acquire it. Erickson continues:At what point do the people tell the politicians to go to hell? At what point do they get off the couch, march down to their state legislator’s house, pull him outside, and beat him to a bloody pulp for being an idiot?[...]Were I in Washington State, I’d be cleaning my gun right about now waiting to protect my property from the coming riots or the government apparatchiks coming to enforce nonsensical legislation.
"If the GOP plays its cards right," Erickson predicts, "it will have a winning issue in 2010." I agree. Santelli's "tea parties" made a certain amount of sense. But let's be real: No one drinks tea anymore. In fact, most of the people who drink tea also use Seventh Generation dishwashing detergent. The idea was conceptually strong but functionally inadequate. Erickson's proposed "beat your legislator to a bloody pulp for being an idiot" parties, by contrast, are founded on the sort of broadly popular organizing principle that has underpinned so many successful political movements: Acts of random violence against the political system. Same goes for his proposal to shoot census takers or gas meter readers or whoever else the Feds decide to send to his house. This is like the Contract With America as reimagined by Michael Bay. Bet Erickson's only regret is that he didn't think of it in time to help Norm Coleman beat Al Franken by a landslide rather than by a couple hundred opposite votes.
