From: laelth@yabbs
To: maedhros@yabbs
Subject: re:  The U.S. Government
Date: Tue Feb  1 00:40:46 1994

Maedhros, et al.:
    Sorry it took me so long to get back to you  I've missed a fantastic 
discussion, but alas it could not be helped.  I was reading Heidegger.
In any case, I'd like to refer back to a message that I wrote last week,  
#265 for those who are interested.  I posed the question, who can best 
solve the problems that face this nation?  Need I list them?  
Unemployment, Poverty, a crumbling infrastructure (sewers, roads, public 
buildings, bridges), almos a quarter of all Americans have no health 
insurance, we face a rapidly declining standard of living, we have 
inherited almost $5 trillion of public debt, violent crime has reached 
near-epidemic proportions, we have far more homeless people than we can 
shelter and feed, poor immigrants are storming across our borders at 
ever-increasing rates further testing the limits of our social services, 
and THE LIST GOES ON!
    Now, it seems to me that we face two choices:  we can either ignore 
these problems and say they don't exist, or we can DO something about 
them.  BTW, we chose to ignore most of these in the 1980s, and that's how 
a lot of these problems got so far out-of-hand.  We can't keep burying our 
head in the sand, and pretending that all is well.  It's not, and it's 
getting worse.  So, once we admit that our nation faces real, complicated, 
and enormous problems, then we must ask ourselves who (or what) is best 
capable, best-suited to DEAL with these problems.  Who?
    I do not believe that anarchy (in its ideal or "compromise" state) can
adequately address these concerns.  If anything, anarchy would rob us of 
our only tool that can work to solve these problems, the government.
Although ideal anarchy would offer unprecedented freedom, what's freedom 
compared to a roof over your head, food in your stomach, a family, a job,  
and security from those who would do you harm?  How can freedom replace 
these things?  The government, yes the EVIL federal government in 
Washington is, unfortunately, the best tool that we have at our disposal 
for meeting the challenges that face us.  No the government is not 
perfect, but I want to see someone make a credible argument that another 
institution can better address America's problems.  Any takers?

Happy ruminations!

-laelth