Althouse: "New York City is not about wringing your hands; it’s about doing something."

May 31, 2012

"New York City is not about wringing your hands; it’s about doing something."

"I think that’s what the public wants the mayor to do."

Elsewhere, "all over the United States," they "are wringing their hands saying, ‘Oh, this is terrible,’” but not in New York. In New York, they are doing something.

Do something — what a wonderful concept, often heard in the old cry for help: "Don't just stand there; do something."

It's the the motto of the liberal. The corresponding motto of the conservative is: First, do no harm. Or to put it in the form that I thought up (in another context) and have adopted as a kind of a personal motto: Better than nothing is a high standard.

79 comments:

MMR said...: Alternatively; "Don't just DO something, stand there" works also.; 5/31/12, 11:07 AM
cubanbob said...: How about hizzoner fixing the potholes and getting the city's finances in order? They can't do the important things so they devote themselves to these idiocies. I do hope when the inevitable lawsuits are filed, Bloomberg is personally named in the lawsuit as well.; 5/31/12, 11:10 AM
cassandra lite said...: To all the nanny politicians: "First, STFU!"; 5/31/12, 11:10 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: When in doubt, do nothing.

That's my formulation.

As it turns out, I don't do much.; 5/31/12, 11:10 AM
Tank said...: Hey, Mayor Asshole, what you're doing is stealing one more small slice of freedom.

Jerk.; 5/31/12, 11:10 AM
KCFleming said...: Authoritarian fascism lands in lefty New York City.
Unexpectedly!; 5/31/12, 11:11 AM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: The "politician's syllogism," courtesy of the wonderful BBC comedy series Yes, Prime Minister:

(1) We must do something!
(2) This is "something";
(3) Therefore, we must do it!; 5/31/12, 11:11 AM
edutcher said...: Yes, but is this what the people want done?

In the real world, this is called busy work.; 5/31/12, 11:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Don't just do something, sit there" is actually a pretty good primer on Zen meditation; 5/31/12, 11:16 AM
Original Mike said...: "Do something.
And if it works, do it some more.
And if it doesn't work, do something else."

FDR; 5/31/12, 11:16 AM
Wilson said...: Reminds me of something I heard on the Econtalk podcast the other day. The economist Ludwig von Mises gives a lecture about how the economy needs to be left alone to recover in a recession. A woman in the audience raises her hand and says: Professor Mises, surely you are not suggesting that the government should do nothing. And he says: Madam, I'm suggesting that the government should have started doing nothing a long time ago.; 5/31/12, 11:22 AM
Bob Ellison said...: If you're Arlen Specter, it's "Don't just do something. Do something and then do the opposite."; 5/31/12, 11:25 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: So this is really a regulation on cup size. The restuarant can still provide free refills of Coke, but not in cups bigger than 16 oz.

Next up, no self-serve drink dispensers.; 5/31/12, 11:25 AM
Shanna said...: This is stupid, obviously, but as I don't drink cokes anymore my first thought was how this would affect other drinks. Like, if I want 32oz's of iced tea with no sugar at all, that would go away too, likely, if the cokes went away.

Of course, I don't live in NYC, thank god.; 5/31/12, 11:25 AM
Anonymous said...: STD infused risky sexual behavior? We really wish you wouldn't. Please read our posters and educate yourselves.

Carbonated sugar drinks? Up against the wall, you mother raper!; 5/31/12, 11:26 AM
Hagar said...: "Do something.
And if it doen't work, do it some more.
And if it still doesn't work, arrest somebody."; 5/31/12, 11:26 AM
Shanna said...: The restuarant can still provide free refills of Coke, but not in cups bigger than 16 oz.

Exactly. I suppose this won't be an issue in a restaurant, just for people getting takeout.; 5/31/12, 11:26 AM
Christopher in MA said...: "I think that's what the public wants the mayor to do."

Have you asked them what they want you to do, you insufferable asshole?

Of course not. Just eat your Soylent Green and leave the thinking to me, proles.

Bloomberg makes the perfect argument as to why, once a week, every tenth politician in a state should be taken out and shot. Pour encourages les autres.; 5/31/12, 11:30 AM
Anonymous said...: Obesity is aligned with race, according to the CDC, with whites being the least obese, and they are worried about ending the "disparity."

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/dsObesityAdults/

Perhaps the CDC could fatten up white people, and then there would be equality. NY could give free big sugary drinks for white people, for instance.; 5/31/12, 11:35 AM
ndspinelli said...: How about a ban on small mayors.; 5/31/12, 11:35 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: "stop! Just stand there and do nothing" could be the libertarian slogan.; 5/31/12, 11:36 AM
Bayoneteer said...: Fuck New Yorkers if they don't like it. They elected Bloomberg mayor three times in a row even after all his party switches and after he dumped the term limit initiative they voted in. Noo Yawkers voted for this shit sandwich now let 'em eat it.; 5/31/12, 11:38 AM
traditionalguy said...: Secular Hasidic Rules issued by a class A fool.

These rules are always meaningless and easy show offs for people who keep them anyway, but who now want to boot strap themselves into a Righteous Judge over others as if that helps anyone.

Black Market Cokes will be trafficked into NYC soon. Bloomberg can then have them hanged and brag about saving the world. It is a serious mental illness in office.

The absolutely real threats of mass starvation and third world level poverty imposed upon us by Obama's EPA Hoax Agenda outlawing coal generated electricity are a 100% real enemy that we need saving from yesterday, and Bloomberg is silent on that.; 5/31/12, 11:38 AM
MadisonMan said...: Beware the politician who want to "do something". It usually means they want to take your money, or your freedom, or part of both.; 5/31/12, 11:45 AM
n.n said...: The War on Drugs is a progressive campaign. However, who could have predicted its extension to sugar, but not sugar substitutes, including: artificial, modified, and concentrated sweeteners. There must be an ulterior motive to their underwhelming concern for our wellbeing.

Oh, well. There is a predictable price associated with fulfillment of dreams of instant gratification. Redistributive and retributive change engender a diminishing capacity for self-moderating behavior, which necessarily leads to a progressive loss of liberty.

It's quite the unresolved paradox which continues to plague humanity. Do people want liberty or submission with benefits? I suppose we should just enjoy the benefits while they last.; 5/31/12, 11:49 AM
ricpic said...: When does the NYC gubmint wean itself from its own spending slurpee?! Three million New Yorkers have left the state for low or no state tax states. Get the hint fat city and state? Why should the city or state get the hint? Who will teach them constraint? The teacher's union? ha ha ha ha ha...; 5/31/12, 11:50 AM
Brian Brown said...: Two stories in today's NYP detail teachers having sex with students in NYC.

One is 36 & married, and the other is 26 and was charged with DUI.

How about this nanny asshole focuses on the teacher on sex student epidemic in New York City?; 5/31/12, 11:51 AM
n.n said...: Jay:

re: pedophilia epidemic

As long as it is consensual, why harsh their mellow? Remember, there are no objective standards. There are only selfish interests and dreams of (physical) instant gratification.; 5/31/12, 11:54 AM
Brian Brown said...: n.n.,

You're correct. Who am I to judge these people's love? I mean, the 36 year old was writing cute notes "
I’m not putting myself out there again. I made that mistake last night and you couldn’t handle it.
" to the boy on Facebook (totally normal).

I shouldn't intrude on their happiness...; 5/31/12, 12:03 PM
Seeing Red said...: I thought Bloomberg was for choice? He can't tell me what to do with my body. Why doesn't the idiot just tax it? All that's going to do is have people by 2 or more.; 5/31/12, 12:16 PM
Seeing Red said...: Bloomberg I think didn't win by many votes this time I thought it was around 5000.; 5/31/12, 12:18 PM
Scott M said...: "stop! Just stand there and do nothing" could be the libertarian slogan.

Gain power and do nothing is more apt though P); 5/31/12, 12:20 PM
damikesc said...: Yes, but is this what the people want done?

In NYC? I'd imagine that, yes, it is.

They ceased being "tough individuals" decades ago and are now wards of a nanny state.

I used to dislike NYC but at least respect it.

I can't even do that now.; 5/31/12, 12:22 PM
Lyle said...: Busybodies can hurt as much as help sometimes.; 5/31/12, 12:23 PM
Scott said...: "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have." --Gerald Ford; 5/31/12, 12:29 PM
Richard Dolan said...: The ban on super-sized sugary drinks is, as assaults on freedom go, pretty ho-hum. Yes, it's nanny-statism in its most direct, obnoxious and almost certainly ineffectual form. But it's still mostly a so-what.

The more interesting question is what, if anything, governments should do to improve the health of or discourage obesity among kids. No one (except extreme libertarians and kooks) has much trouble with florine in drinking water, for example. That suggests that measures that seem passive (the user doesn't have to do anything) and aren't personally restrictive (the user doesn't have to change what he does) are OK, even if there is nothing voluntary about participating (I dismiss the option of using just bottled water as more theoretical than practical). And no one (again, excepting extreme libertarians and kooks) has a problem with bans on dangerous or potentially harmful products (toys with harmful ingredients, lead paint, e.g.).

I suppose Bloomie's nanny-state stuff about sugary drinks or trans-fatty foods invades more of the 'I'll decide for myself' zone than those examples. It also has the ire-producing aspect of treating the entire public as a bunch of irreponsible kids.

Perhaps the better solution would be simply to make it a capital offense to be obese, or to aid and abet anyone in becoming obese. At least that would have the benefit of getting all those unsightly fatso's off the streets, where the beautiful people are forced to look at them. If that's too harsh for some, then the government could opt to treat allowing one's kid to become obese as a form of child abuse. That would have the downside of making the kids wards of the state, and we know how well that usually turns out. But the nanny-staters could at least say they had done something that really had an impact.

If Bloomie is going to go the nanny-state route, he might as well go whole hog (so to speak). And for those of you who are dumping on Bloomie (many here in NYC do the same), just bear in mind that he is far, FAR preferable to what the next mayor is likely to be. Even in NYC, we seem to be running out of billionaires who want to be mayor and are willing to run as a self-funding Rep candidate. Our only alternative to whatever the Dem machine will throw out may come down to Ray Kelly, the police commissioner under Rudy and now Bloomie. But he hasn't done anything to indicate he would be inclined to run.; 5/31/12, 12:33 PM
Sigivald said...: It is important to be seen to be doing something, if one is a politician.

(Plus what MDT said at 11:11.)

If only the State (and the people who support it) could figure out that none of our damn business is not only a valid answer, but most often the right one...; 5/31/12, 12:34 PM
Scott said...: Each of the boroughs should be rechartered as separate cities with their own mayors. And Staten Island should be ceded to New Jersey. SI is NJ's sudetenland.; 5/31/12, 12:40 PM
Toby Considine said...: 4 words, one acronym. BOGO. Soon on every takeout menu in NYC.; 5/31/12, 12:45 PM
MayBee said...: I'm trying to think who supports this. Certainly not anybody who currently buys a drink larger than 16 oz.
So once again, it's a law to change the behavior of "them".; 5/31/12, 12:47 PM
Known Unknown said...: You know, if government hadn't invested so much time and effort in socializing health care, these bans wouldn't exist.; 5/31/12, 12:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Good grief, what's to stop someone from buying two 16 oz. cups? Why not stick with educating people on nutrition and leave it at that?; 5/31/12, 12:52 PM
Big Mike said...: @Richard Dolan, please delete your comment above and repost without the 4th paragraph. Please do not give those a**holes any ideas!!!; 5/31/12, 12:52 PM
Big Mike said...: @Professor, love that last paragraph of your post. What a succinct summary!

It would also be good if liberals would go back later and determine whether the "somethings" that they've done are cost-effective -- or even working! My personal impression is that conservatives, at least fiscal conservatives anyway, are more apt to do the retrospective analysis than not.; 5/31/12, 12:56 PM
Sorun said...: As long as you can still buy a 24-pack of Coke with your food stamps.; 5/31/12, 1:05 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: This is what the people want done?

I doubt it. The people want the government to just get the fuck out of the way.

I don't need the government looking over my shoulder while I eat, cook, shower or anything else.

But....ok....let's suppose that we really do want the government to micromanage every itsy bitsy aspect of our daily lives.

ince we are so helpless that we need someone to tell us how much salt to use and what to drink. I really think we need the government to just take over everything.

Then I want the government to...........

1. Reorganize my sock and underwear drawers since I am obviously incapable of that.

2. Fold my fitted sheets. I can never get those done right and just end up wadding them into a flat ball shape.

3. Clean my refrigerator. The vegetable drawer is probably qualified as a hazmat site about now.

4. The cat's litter box is also probably a health hazzard would Bloomberg please come over and help me dispose of the litter and sterilize the box?

I'm sure I can think of many other things that I'm just to stupid or incapable of accomplishing. Let's DEMAND that the government take care of us!!!; 5/31/12, 1:08 PM
Anonymous said...: My complaint would be the lack of differentiation in the liberal mind between "doing something" and "legislating something."

However, I am coming around to the concept of "doing something" - see Hannibal (comedian) on prayer = doing nothing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPQTqbXfUUM

Heh.; 5/31/12, 1:08 PM
Methadras said...: The 'Do Something' disease strikes again. When will doucheberg be voted out of office or his time run out?; 5/31/12, 1:13 PM
David said...: I think the mayor and the deputy mayor could each use a good fuck. They definitely need to loosen up.; 5/31/12, 1:28 PM
Laura said...: Whatever will Mr. Buffet drink when he visits?; 5/31/12, 1:37 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Does nanny Bloomberg actually believe his busy-body BS will lead to less obesity?; 5/31/12, 1:40 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Bloomberg sounds like he's auditioning for a Viagra commercial, with all the talk of getting things done.; 5/31/12, 1:40 PM
Saint Croix said...: Don't just do something! Stand there.; 5/31/12, 1:43 PM
Michael K said...: The medical version of that phrase, usually heard in ICU, is "Don't just do something, stand there." Thinking before doing is more respected in medicine than in politics. That's what scares us about Obamacare.; 5/31/12, 1:44 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Not only are you restricted to a 16oz cup, you must lift your pinky in the air as you slowly sip. If you are caught gulping, the police will arrest you. Mandatory sentencing guidelines will make sure you never do it again.; 5/31/12, 1:48 PM
Astro said...: Whenever my wife and I used to go anywhere we'd often get one large drink and share it. That way we both drank less sugary (or more precisely, corn-syrupy) soda than if we'd each gotten our own. We saved money too since one large was cheaper than 2 regulars, and we reduced the amount of trash since only one cup + lid + straw was discarded, rather than two.

Bloomberg is such an idiot.; 5/31/12, 1:50 PM
bagoh20 said...: What if your neighbor from down the street came by and told you that you cold not buy any sodas over 16 oz. because he says so. That's exactly what this is, except he doesn't even live in your neighborhood. So why do we accept crap from the government that we would never accept from other citizens? Are we just children who need to do what we're told because they just know better? Have they shown that they know better about anything?

I do know that despite the fact that I can't force people to give me money, I'm still not bankrupt, so I'm thinking we should not be accepting any instruction from these people.

If your brother-in-law had their record of success, would you let him set the rules for your family?; 5/31/12, 1:51 PM
JAL said...: @ RD Perhaps the better solution would be simply to make it a capital offense to be obese, or to aid and abet anyone in becoming obese.

I don't think they can do that. They are caught in this weird contradiction. You are not supposed to bully people. You aren't supposed to shame people. Isn't obesity something that qualifies people for special treatment under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Like airlines cannot discriminate against the obese; employers interviewing employees cannot use obesity as a reason to reject a candidate?

But the other issue is the control freak government official we now have in office.

RD dismissed this action of Bloomberg's (the limit on drink sizes) as trivial. But seriously -- what right does the government have to control the size of a drink a person buys or sells?
Really? What is the legal basis for this? "Because I say so?"

The irony here is our history of Prohibition.

IF (and that is a big IF) the government is *really*really*really* concerned about our health and welfare and life and death and all the money it is costing --- it is clear that ending the production and sale of alchoholic beverages should be the number one item on the agenda.

Of course there is that little thing called the US Constitution. But that hasn't stopped Sibelius, or the EPA (just slowed it down recently) or any of the regulators, so why Bloomberg?

But as our so gifted, so talented, all wise, all knowing (sorry Rush) expert on Judaism and economics President has said about money ("I mean, I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.") the same must be said for Coke, or sweetened ice tea. "I mean, I do think at a certain point you've had enough Sprite. And this is that point. 16 OZ. Right here. Now."

Why is it libs (I know, I know, Bloomberg's a "Republican" -- not) go for the quick, stupid and nuclear "solution" first thing?

Heaven forbid they actually think about it and then look at what their job descriptions are.

We have the war on drugs. Now we have the war on "sugary drinks." But politicians would never consider the war on 90 proof to be reasonable or necessary.

Waiting to hear from Gracie Mansion.

*crickets*

Bloomberg is turning NYC into a wasteland.; 5/31/12, 1:52 PM
bagoh20 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/31/12, 1:52 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: For his next act, the mayor will make it illegal to eat a Snickers bar without using a knife and fork. it's what the people want.; 5/31/12, 1:58 PM
KLDAVIS said...: If I were ever to become a liberal (hah!), the first thing I'd ask the government to do would be to ban the free refill. From the point of view of actually dangerous but seemingly innocuous things, it may have done more harm to American than anything else I can think of.; 5/31/12, 2:03 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: The mayor knows that freedom is overrated, and that tyranny works. Just look at North Korea. No obesity problem there.; 5/31/12, 2:03 PM
Paddy O said...: Obesity is the new sexuality.; 5/31/12, 2:05 PM
Paddy O said...: Bloomberg is a fatophobe.; 5/31/12, 2:06 PM
Larry J said...: In New York, they are doing something.

Yeah, but I don't give partial credit for doing something stupid.; 5/31/12, 2:15 PM
Shanna said...: “My idea of a perfect government is one guy who sits in a small room at a desk, and the only thing he’s allowed to decide is who to nuke. "; 5/31/12, 2:22 PM
Shanna said...: If I were ever to become a liberal (hah!), the first thing I'd ask the government to do would be to ban the free refill.

Years ago, tea was the only drink at restaurants with free refills. It sort of migrated to the other drinks, but if it went back to just tea that would be fine by me.; 5/31/12, 2:23 PM
Synova said...: Well, it's never that *I* think I need a mommy to make sure I make all the right choices.

If those who support this sort of thing were honest, they'd admit that it's because they believe that those *other* people need a mommy, that they can't be trusted, and aren't as real a person as "I" am.

It's classist. It's probably racist.

It's the case with compulsory education, with just about anything that the government makes you do.; 5/31/12, 2:23 PM
CityofMisfitToys said...: So a woman has a right to choose, but I can't choose to drink a 168oz Dr Pepper???; 5/31/12, 2:42 PM
Calypso Facto said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/31/12, 3:35 PM
Calypso Facto said...: The appearance of efficient ACTION has long been a draw for Fascism.

Today in Madison I saw a do-gooder in a Prius stop in traffic in a construction zone to wave some pedestrians across the street. She couldn't believe no one was stopping for these poor people and her indignation showed. The only problem was that she was actually encouraging a group of developmentally disabled kids who were WAITING FOR THE BUS out into a busy street full of cars. Therein lies the problem with too much action based on incomplete knowledge (as is almost always the case when gov't meddles in the free market): you risk doing far more harm than good.; 5/31/12, 3:36 PM
tastid212 said...: Mayor Bloomberg has been "doing a lot" lately -- mostly tarnishing his reputation -- with bans on consumer goods, siting a garbage dump in a residential area and, amazingly, endorsing the discredited Charlie Rangel for an umpteenth term!; 5/31/12, 4:37 PM
Bayoneteer said...: The people of NYC know what they want and they deserve to get it. Good & hard too.; 5/31/12, 5:31 PM
traditionalguy said...: Bloomberg must be dreaming of sending out his own swarms of small drones catching LAW VIOLATERS sipping soft drinks past the limit, gaining weight and collapsing the earth's delicate crust.

That would make him Presidential material by the current fantasyland standards.; 5/31/12, 7:32 PM
Kirk Parker said...: "So this is really a regulation on cup size. "

If only Trooper were still here.; 5/31/12, 7:35 PM
DCS said...: Just because you CAN do something doesn't mean you SHOULD do it. Liberals don't have the first clue about this concept.; 5/31/12, 8:43 PM
Beach Brutus said...: Same mentality behind the totalitarian maxim that "you have to break a few eggs to make an omlet."; 5/31/12, 9:07 PM
KCFleming said...: When is NY City gonna wipe my ass?; 5/31/12, 10:00 PM
Laura said...: Then pony up hazard pay for the housekeeper. Wrong state?; 6/4/12, 3:00 AM