Coyote Blog: Hypocrisy Alert

If Coyote Blog is not part of your daily read it should be. Politics without Philosophy is a nice little essay which distills down to this observation:

...The reason for this brief, really tangential rant was this morning when I was reading through some recent emails from a trade group I belong to called the NACS, or the National Association of Convenience Stores. Because of changes in the market, the NACS represents a large percentage of the gasoline retailers in this country. In the last two weeks, the NACS has:

1. Opposed government "price gouging" regulations aimed at how gas stations price their product.

2. Advocated government intervention in the pricing of credit card processing services, arguing that gas stations are getting gouged by banks today.

Could anything be more stark? There are no values here, no philosophy, no core assumptions about the nature of man and man's existence. Just a bald desire to be left alone yourself, but have the government intervene in your favor with everyone you do business with.