The hobo’s speech from Frank Capra’s Meet John Doe (1941):

I seen guys like you go under before. Guys that never had a worry. Then they got a hold of some dough and went goofy. The first thing that happens to a guy like that, he starts wanting to go into restaurants, and sit down at a table, and eat salads, and cupcakes, and tea. Boy, what that kind of food does to your system! The next thing the dope wants is a room. Yes, sir, a room with steam heat, and curtains, and rugs. And before you know it he’s all softened up. He can’t sleep unless he has a bed.

I’ve seen plenty of fellows start out with fifty bucks and wind up with a bank account. And let me tell you, Long John, when you become a guy with a bank account, they got you. Yes, sir, they got you.

Listen, sucker, you ever been broke? All right. You’re walking along, not a nickel in your jeans, you’re free as the wind. Nobody bothers you. Hundreds of people pass you by in every line of business. Shoes, hats, automobiles, radios, furniture, everything! And they’re all nice lovable people. And they let you alone. Is that right? Then you get a hold of some dough and what happens? All those nice sweet lovable people become helots! A lot of heels! They begin creeping up on you, trying to sell you something. They get long claws. And they get a stranglehold on you. And you squirm and you duck and you holler and you try to push them away but you haven’t got a chance. They got you. First thing you know, you own things. A car, for instance. Now your whole life is messed up with a lot more stuff. You got license fees, and number plates, and gas, and oil, and taxes, and insurance, and identification cards, and letters, and bills, and flat tires, and dents, and traffic tickets, and motorcycle cops, and courtrooms, and lawyers, and fines, and – a million and one other things. And what happens? You’re not the free and happy guy you used to be. You got to have money to pay for all those things. So you go after what the other fellow’s got. And there you are. You’re a helot yourself.

Incidentally, I wonder what it is about Gary Cooper’s voice that sometimes makes me think I’m listening to Peter (Aurness) Graves. Pitch? Nasality?

I’ve just heard that banks and the Postal Monopoly are closed today for Mr Reagan’s funeral. I wonder whether the guest of honor would have approved.

Those, if any, who enjoyed my terse libertarian rants of yore are invited to my comments here and here and here on AnarCapLib, a group blog of Indian individualists which I’m reading because Russell said to.

This was Russell’s Quote of the Day a week ago:

All of us must begin telling everyone we know – especially if they’re not libertarians – that if they’re fed up with this mess the Republicans have made in Iraq and Afghanistan, if they want to see the USA Patriot Act go down in flames, along with all the unconstitutional intrusions and limitations that it has inflicted on us, if they want to see drug laws, the income tax, and federal gun laws repealed, and if they don’t believe life under a Kerry Administration would be any better than it has been under Bush, their only option is to see both “major” parties shocked and embarrassed by a high turnout for Michael Badnarik.

L. Neil Smith

I’m getting very tired of light-on-dark webpages.

Bad advice, running around loose.

In utterly unrelated news: This week I shared an office with someone who sounds to me as if she’s from some unfamiliar part of Australia but is in fact from Derby. Learn something every day.

If this is to be believed, Serenity will open on April 22.

Later: Or not.