The Art of Politics

How Much Time Would You Do?

For a Kit-Kat bar...

For the gallery of the absurd, the following story, that the warriors at Metro subway security collared a serious public menace when they slapped the wristirons on a woman who violated the no-masticating rules at a Washington D.C. transit station.

Unbelievable. I imagine I could smuggle a suitcase nuke on the Metro easier than I could smuggle a package of Lay's potato chips - you can't eat just one.

How did this scene go down?

"Put down the Twix bar, and nobody will get hurt."

"Your honor, when we searched the suspect, we found an opened Tic Tac container and a stale 'Rolo' in the suspects front pocket."

"Our suspicions were raised when we noted the minty fresh breath of the defendant. It was Curiously Strong - too strong. Sure enough, while a pat down revealed nothing, a warrant was issued and a search of the suspect's home turned up a box of Altoids and assorted Hostess products."

Tyranny comes in small packages - the imperious and arbitrary application of the rule of law. It doesn't need a King, it merely needs the color of law applied without common sense.

And so, in commemoration of this, we create a mighty new category here at The Art Of Politics. It is 'Papers Please', dedicated to those instances that demonstrate the while absolute power corrupts absolutely, mere stupidity mixed with any amount of power is a recipe for the worst kinds of official foolishness.

Posted by MEC2 at July 29, 2004 07:27 PM