I’ve been putting off writing this post for a couple weeks now, thinking my inklings overblown. But when I read my old friend Rick Henderson’s account of the latest abuse of power by state government, well, there is just nothing else to say but this:

Facts do not matter any more.

Power is what counts. If you have the power, you don’t need facts. You just do as you please. This not so much a Left-Right thing, and certainly not a partisan thing, nor is it a particularly new thing. I will say it seems to have accelerated since Bill Clinton’s “just win” stance during his impeachment, along with the advent of 24/7 and viral marketing.

Virtually all mainstream communication today is a form of propaganda, with facts either twisted or completely omitted. What has changed in the past decade is the speed and frequency of propaganda messages, not to mention the multiplicity of delivery platforms. We’ve gone from Old West six-shooters to space-based beam weapons, MIRVs, mini-guns, bio weapons, nerve toxins, and pulse rifles — all targeted at the truth, every minute of everyday.

Climategate? Why would facts matter? Health care? Why would facts matter? ACORN? A half-cent transit tax can build a $9.5b. plan? What fact could one possibly serve up that would elicit, “Oh, I see your point” from those dedicated to growing the size of the State? But you say your target is the public, inform the public and they will take the power away from the propagandists. How? By voting in elections rigged to protect the status quo? Could happen, in those few cases when the status quo has grown fat, stupid, and lazy. Happened last month in Greensboro and Wake County.

But look at the roadblocks — the propaganda — already thrown up to prevent meaningful policy changes in either jurisdiction. Professional staff do not want policy changes and will fight and obstruct all attempts at change. Hence, unless they are removed, nothing really changes. Ever.

I always thought H.L. Mencken was overstating things when he said, “I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.”

Now I know Mencken was an optimist.