Maher: Fox would be a lot gentler to OWS protesters "if a brick came through Rupert Murdoch's apartment"

So far, no verifications of break-ins or violence at yesterday’s Millionaires March, brought to you by those oh-so-clean-and-courteous Occupy Wall Street protesters. But if that lack of property-possession-or-destruction persists, it won’t be for want of encouragement.

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Last night on The Rachel Maddow Show, always-over-the-top Bill Maher made this very polite and civil observation: “If a brick came through Rupert Murdoch’s apartment, yes, I have a feeling Fox News would be a lot more gentle on the Wall Street people.” You’re not suggesting the protesters should exploit the power of potential violence, are you, Bill?

Ms. Maddow — who is obsessed with the “genius” posed by the element of potential “danger” inherent in an unruly mob like OWS — actually found his comments laughable funny. Nor can she seem to accept that the Tea Party rose to prominence on the strength of its ideas — not the raucousness of its rallies, which are actually so tame police officers are apt to offer Tea Partiers greater leeway than most other groups (h/t NewsBusters).

Bottom line: Maher’s talk is just talk, but the Occupy Wall Streeters shouldn’t get any ideas (or, rather, they should abandon the ideas that took them to the streets in the first place). Nor should the rest of us fall prey to the fear of violence. Property rights are a fundamental underpinning of the freedom we enjoy in the United States — and respect for others’ property is what ensures respect for one’s own. Compare Maher’s eloquence to the great Abraham Lincoln’s (h/t HA commenter “walnut”):

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Property is the fruit of labor… Property is desirable [and] is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.

Sheesh. I know which worldview I want to have.

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