www.thornwalker.com/ditch/lights129_lte.htm

If you haven't read the column yet, here it is.

Comment?

To the editor ...

Yes, it's all true. Who (or what) will save us?

I conclude that the root of the problem is that people personally identify with things that have nothing to do with them. A common example of this can be found in professional sports where bystanders (called fans) strongly identify with a group of players (the team) whom they have never met and with whom they have nothing whatsoever in common. The success of the team benefits the fans not at all (notwithstanding an occasional wager). Yet it cannot be denied that fans feel better when their team wins and that they feel sorrow when their team loses. Fans have been known to riot and even to commit assault and murder when their team has lost, or won.

If electing better people could work, Jimmy Carter would have succeeded.

The only way to curb the excesses of the criminal syndicate that is government is to feed the monster less. Period. People pay taxes primarily because they think they are supporting their team; they do not comply primarily out of fear or self-interest. That is true in every country and it has always been true. Analysis of how the system actually works would disabuse people of their misconceptions and encourage them to resist compliance with robbers' demands. They would understand that the more they pay, the less they get. If people want peace (and most people do) they must avoid giving money to liars, thieves, warmongers, and psychopaths. They don't even need to lock them up — just cut them off.

Thank you once again, Mr. Strakon, for your valuable "civics" lesson.

Morley Evans
January 7, 2004;
posted February 6, 2004

http://www.morleyevans.com

To the column.

Return to the table of contents.