Mayor sends cops after two small children.

In the past I bestowed a “Moron of the Week” award. I confess I have been negligent of late in doing so. Certainly it wasn’t due to a shortage of worthy recipients -- after all this election season so the airwaves are filled with potentials. I’ve just neglected it.

But Gregg Manning, the Mayor of Clayton, California, is such a worthy recipient that the award is hereby bestowed on him. Mayor Manning is not just worthy, he is a prime example of precisely what it means to be a moron. In short, he is the moron by which all other morons must be judged. First, here is a video clip that explains the situation. Please remember he is only on film -- don’t shoot the screen. It will only damage your computer and will not effect Manning at all. Watch, then read the rest, then do something about it.




What sort of bureaucratic mentality is rampant in Clayton? We note that this arrogant old clown seems incredibly condescending. He seems proud that the regulatory crazy politicians in his administration have made lemonade stands for children illegal. I note the Clayton is a very white, very rich town and has little crime. But are these rules a make-work program for cops? Let’s pass stupid laws in order to give the cops someone to go after.

Two girls were selling some spare vegetables from the family garden. Horror! Call out the SWAT team. Mayor Greg “You must obey me” Manning claims this had to be stopped due to traffic problems. The neighbors, who actually live on the street, say there have been no traffic problems at all. Could it be that Manning invented that?

But wait, Manning also invokes the ludicrous “precautionary principle”. That is where we destroy something not because of what it is, or does, but because of what we imagine it might be. So he says that the stand has to be closed down because the two small girls might expand into other product lines -- like chickens. As he said: “They may start out with a little card-table and selling a couple of things, but then who is to say what else they have....” Wow. Is that the best this interfering Nanny can come up with? Here he has retreated from his claim that the stand was causing problems. Instead he is arguing the children must be stopped because he imagines they might do something else. They have to be regulated, not due to problems they are causing, but entirely on the basis of the Mayor’s imagination.

And get that snotty little attack on the parents of the children involved. Because they are defending their children they are “self-centered” unlike arrogant pricks who get elected to office. He said: “I wish everyone would follow the rules and not be just self-centered.” Maybe the rules are crap, Mayor Manning. Maybe the individuals who imposed them, such as yourself, are petty little bureaucrats trying to micromanage other peoples lives.

In reality Manning is far more “self-centered” than the family or the children involved. He is so self-centered that he thinks that he knows how to define the common good for everyone! And in his utopian model that means selling vegetables are a crime and children with lemonade stands are legitimate targets for police intervention.

I don’t know what is best for everyone. Therefore, I have no desire to run other people’s lives. Manning believes he knows what is best and can’t wait to run other people’s lives. Which is the self-centered view? Liberty is based on humility, on the acceptance that I don’t know enough to micromanage the lives of others. Statism is based on the principle that some elite individuals know more than others, are endowed with special traits that make them capable to run the lives of other people. It is an entirely self-centered view of politics. Manning’s entire premise isbased on his natural superiority to rule others and his right to enforce it by armed force if required. (And do remember that this rule was enforced by armed police officers who paid the children a visit.)

So what should be done about this? How about letting this moron know that his actions are not appreciated. In fact, let all the Clayton bureaucrats know this. Here is information on how to contact these clowns. And, while it is going to be difficult, given the utter stupidity of these people, try to be polite.

Greg Manning, Mayor
(925)-673-7316
gmmann@hotmail.com

Julie Pierce, Vice Mayor
(925)-673-7320
Julie_Pierce@comcast.net

David Shuey, Councilmember
(925) 673-7317
shuey@rankinlaw.com

Hank Stratford, Councilmember
(925) 673-7318
hank_stratford@yahoo.com

William Walcutt, Councilmember
(925) 673-7321
wrwalcutt@aol.com