October 23, 2008 5:38PM 

# Brecht on Bloomberg 

By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) 

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The New York City Council has gone along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s urgent and high-pressured request that it overrule two votes of the people and allow him to serve another term. The council’s joint project with the mayor to ignore the will of the people puts me in mind of Bertolt Brecht’s famous poem on the East German government, [The Solution:](http://plagiarist.com/poetry/?wid=662)

After the uprising of the 17th June 
The Secretary of the Writers Union 
Had leaflets distributed in the Stalinallee 
Stating that the people 
Had forfeited the confidence of the government 
And could win it back only 
By redoubled efforts. Would it not be easier 
In that case for the government 
To dissolve the people 
And elect another?

##### Related Tags 

[General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) 

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