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We would be better off if nobody smoked, but let's not expand the war on drugs. I'm actually OK with a bit of this kind of totalitarianism, but not when it doesn't actually work.


Well, keeping the trains running on time did work.

The nice thing about mentioning Mussolini is that there's no Godwin Police to immediately point at you.


No, I don't think that if we let the government restrict or influence our actions when it comes to unhealthy habits next thing we know we'll all be living in fascist Italy.

Fascinatingly, if you read Wikipedia's article about fascist Italy [0] Mussolini's rise to power sounds more like something the war-mongerers ("our president is weak") on Fox News would support than what a nanny-state advocate would support.

[0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Italy#Fascist_regime...


It is quite surprising that a book written 60 years ago could still seem so timely in describing how well meaning central planning could eventually lead to tyrrany.

https://www.google.com/#q=the+road+to+serfdom

...although I guess the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" is even older.


Did the trains actually run on time, or did anyone who pointed out that they were late end up with a bullet in the brain? And of course the best way to prevent late arrivals is to minimize the number of trains running.


Except that it didn't.

http://www.snopes.com/history/govern/trains.asp

The trains where no more on time under fascists than anyone else. Fascist just have better marketing departments.




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