UPDATE — YouTube pulled the video (shocka!) so you can now watch it here.
PLUS:
Etheridge displays the all-too typical attitude of a public “official” as opposed to a public servant. I can’t help wondering if a belief that he can slap constituents around with impunity might be one of the reasons he’s big on citizen disarmament, having been rated “F” by both the National Rifle Association and by Gun Owners of America.
…while democracy means a government accountable to the electorate, our rulers now make us accountable to them. Most Western governments hate me smoking, or eating the wrong kind of food, or hunting foxes, or drinking too much, and these are merely the surface disapprovals, the ones that provoke legislation or public campaigns…. many of us have unsound views about people of other races, cultures, or religions, and the distribution of our friends does not always correspond, as governments think that it ought, to the cultural diversity of our society.
We must face up to the grim fact that the rulers we elect are losing patience with us.
Our rulers are theoretically ‘our’ representatives, but they are busy turning us into the instruments of the projects they keep dreaming up. The business of governments, one might think, is to supply the framework of law within which we may pursue happiness on our own account. Instead, we are constantly being summoned to reform ourselves.
