Is the White House Worth More than a Wii Console?
David Boaz at Cato notes the whining among some that politics is "too expensive," but sensibly notes that we spend a lot more on other things that are hardly necessities. Like videogames.
Nintendo sales in the next 5 weeks are expected to top the cost of the 2008 presidential election. And while there is often a lot of simulated mayhem in video games, no video game "has the power to bomb people, invade countries . . . and strongly influence policy on issues ranging from abortion to youth unemployment — all of which might cause opinionated citizens to contribute money to political campaigns. [H]e or she also plays a huge role in allocating $2.8 trillion a year of federal spending to favored clients, not to mention tweaking government regulation to help or hurt a candidate’s friends."
