Paranoid Delusion Over at Delmarva Dealings?

After reading this post over at Delmarva Dealings, I remain amazed how people continue to reject Occam's Razor in favor of conspiracy theories.

The basic premise of Occam's Razor is that the "the simplest explanation tends to be the right one".

G.A. Harrison goes to great lengths to explain the possible motivations behind the new sound ordinance in Salisbury.  He seems to think it is another nefarious plot of the Mayor to get even with her "political enemies".

Yeah, and Kennedy was killed by the gunman on the grassy knoll who was hired by Sam Giancana at the behest of the CIA, who was still pissed about the Bay of Pigs.

Is Oliver Stone writing for Delmarva Dealings now?

There are two problems with the scenario laid out by G.A. Harrison.

First, Barrie Tilghman isn't that smart.  She's been propped up as this major mastermind of political intrigue in the city of Salisbury, but the simple fact of the matter, she isn't that smart.  Her political instincts are exceptionally poor, ranking here somewhere between William Jennings Bryan and Spiro Agnew.  Whoever is advising her isn't that smart, either.  Two points of evidence:  the notorious press conference attacking "bloggers" and the lawsuit against Runaround Sue.  All she has done in both instances is hand the stage to a verifiable blowhard.

It's take real smarts -- book smarts and street smarts -- to be nefarious, conniving, conspiratorial, and manipulative.  That is why the Kennedys were able to steal the election in the Chicago precincts in 1960 and why Michael Vick just made a plea deal with the Feds.  Barrie Tilghman lacks street AND book smarts.  That sounds cruel, but all evidence points to this conclusion.

Second, thanks to the United States Supreme Court, there are many EASIER ways to "get back at your enemies" than setting up some silly noise ordinance.  Kelo makes the Mayor -- with her indefatigable council sycophants -- eminently powerful.  If she had the testicular fortitude, she could zone Runaround Sue's building right out of existence.  Or, if a particular restaurant owner is in her crawl, she could order constant surveillance and citations for garbage problems.  Since that hasn't happened, we know she hasn't thought of it yet.  If I really gave a damn, I could come up with a list of 100 things the Mayor could do to put the screws to her "enemies" without raising the attention of the States Attorney or the Feds.

My feeling is that the noise ordinance is actually far worse than a conspiracy.  It's a surrender.  It's the government of the City of Salisbury admitting that it has lost control of a large portion of its territory, and that it is no longer able to enforce existing laws that would deal with the issue.  Therefore, in typical left-wing fashion, they are going to pass a new law that makes government's job easier at the expense of personal liberty and common sense.

My feeling is also that the greatest number of "noise violators" are recidivists, and that instead of taking a pro-active leadership role to address the problem, the unfathomable lack of leadership on the part of Chief Allen "Barbrady" Webster is putting the city into a reactive mode.

As I have said before, don't go looking for a conspiracy when pure incompetence is more likely to blame. After all, the simplest explanation tends to be the right one.