A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“You’re legally allowed to park in a handicap spot if you get back with your ex more than twice” (3/18)
“You can legally park in a handicap spot if you get back with your ex more than 2 times” (3/18)
Entry in progress—BP2 (3/18)
“It’s hard to save money when food is always flirting with me” (3/18)
“Don’t use a big word when a singularly unloquacious and diminutive linguistic expression…” (3/18)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from October 28, 2010
“The party in power is smug; the party out of power is insane” (Jane’s Law)

Megan McArdle (writing as “Jane Galt”) wrote this on the blog Asymmetrical Information on May 21, 2003: “Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.”
 
For example, the Democrats were smug when Bill Clinton was president, but the Republicans were insane. The Republicans were smug when George W. Bush was president, but the Democrats were insane. “Jane’s Law” has had continuing popularity on the internet.
 
   
Wikipedia: Megan McArdle
Megan McArdle (born January 29, 1973) is a Washington, D.C.-based blogger and journalist. She writes mostly about economics, finance and government policy from a moderate libertarian or classical liberal perspective. She currently serves as the business and economics editor, as well as a blogger, for The Atlantic. She has had book reviews and opinion pieces published in the New York Post, The New York Sun, Reason, The Guardian and Salon.com.
(...)
Journalistic career
McArdle began blogging in November 2001; her blog was originally called “Live From The WTC”, because she was working at the time for a construction firm doing cleanup at the World Trade Center site following the September 11 attacks. She wrote under the pen name “Jane Galt”. The name was a play on “John Galt”, the name of a central character in Ayn Rand’s Objectivist novel Atlas Shrugged; though her political perspective could best be described not as Objectivist but as moderate libertarian or classical liberal. In November 2002 she renamed the site “Asymmetrical Information”, a reference to the economics term of the same name. That blog had two other occasional contributors, Zimran Ahmed (writing under the pen name “Winterspeak”) and the pseudonymous “Mindles H. Dreck”.
 
McArdle achieved some online fame in May 2003 for coining what she termed “Jane’s Law”, in a blog post. The law, written with regard to the two main U.S. political parties, Republicans and Democrats, reads: “The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.”
   
Asymmetrical Information
May 21, 2003
From the desk of Jane Galt:
(...)
Which brings me to a political theory I have been developing for a while now:
 
Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.
   
Google Groups: mn.politics
Newsgroups: mn.politics
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Jeffrey C. Dege)
Date: 11 Nov 2003 04:36:49 GMT
Local: Mon, Nov 10 2003 11:36 pm
Subject: The Politics of Rage
 
http://www.techcentralstation.com/110703E.html
The Politics of Rage
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Published   11/07/2003  
 
Some time ago, TCS contributor Megan McArdle, writing as the pseudonymous “Jane Galt” on her blog, came up with “Jane’s Law.” The law states the following: “The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.” Let’s focus on the insanity part for a little bit.
     
The Hook
ESSAY- Going insane: How Allen turned into Gore
By DAVID WEIGEL
Published November 16, 2006 in issue 0546 of the Hook
(...)
It was almost exactly the midpoint of this era when blogger Megan McArdle posited Jane’s Law: “The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.” You could safely assume that Jane’s Law would fall hardest on Democrats; indeed, on election night, Democrats I talked to were still grumbling about Republicans stealing a few races with “their usual bullsh*t.” (This was before the Senate broke for the Democrats.) It’s a little reassuring that Republicans, in the minority for the first time since 1994, are able to turn on a dime. They’ve gone insane, if they weren’t already.
   
The Volokh Conspiracy
[Eugene Volokh, November 5, 2008 at 12:59pm]
Let’s Avoid Jane’s Law:
Jane’s Law says,
 
Jane’s Law: The devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant. The devotees of the party out of power are insane.
 
It would sure be great if both halves of this were proven wrong. But at least I hope the people on my side work hard to prove wrong one of the halves.
 
The Atlantic - Megan McArdle blog
Spreading leprosy and joy wherever they go . . .
Nov 6 2008, 3:30 PM ET
My first internet bon mot was Jane’s Law:  the devotees of the party in power are smug and arrogant.  The devotees of the party out of power are insane.
 
Red State offers proof positive.  Because you know what the Republican Party is missing?  What the electorate really wants from conservatives?  Secret police.
 
I’ve been impressed by the way a lot of thoughtful commenters have avoided the nuthatchery that followed 2004, whereupon the activists denied that Bush had kicked their ass halfway to Texas, and alternately blamed Republican dirty tricks, an American electorate full of bigots and boobs, and their excessive moderation.  A lot of commentators yesterday and today have written articles on how exciting it is to have the first black president, and how yes, the Republican party needs a gut rehab.

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityGovernment/Law/Military/Religion /Health • Thursday, October 28, 2010 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.