The genius of the Occupy movement sparks an even more brilliant idea: the Futility Party.Image: Lore Sjöberg

I don’t talk about politics much, but it’s not because I’m apolitical. To the contrary, my political ideals are so firmly and deeply held that there’s no chance of them being realized in my lifetime. So I keep my opinions mostly to myself; the last thing the web needs is another grimacing keyboard-beater insisting that if he were God-Emperor, everything would be rosebuds and foot massages.

I find radical politics embarrassing, even my own, but I find mainstream politics baffling and...

It’s January 2012. A convoy of SUVs ferrying American diplomats to a meeting with Iraqi politicians runs over a roadside bomb. Several of the passengers inside are seriously injured. They need to be rescued, now.

But the U.S. military left Iraq on Dec. 31. Which means the only call for help has to go to a team of mercenaries employed by the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. They’re the only guys left in Iraq who are running medical evacuation operations — or any other complex air op.

The State Department has already requisitioned an army, part of the roughly 5,000 private security contractors State is...