kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU.UUCP (08/17/86)
Once you allow government to do some things that it has no business
doing but that seem reasonable and fair, for instance involuntarily
taxing everyone one percent of their income to prevent people from
starving or freezing to death, the door is wide open for more and
more.
There is a story in the September 1983 _Analog_ by Hayford Peirce
called _The Reluctant Torturer_ in which the government starts
torturing people. This is initially done to get someone to confess to
where a a bomb has been placed, so as to save thousands of innocent
lives. The author made the argument so well that at first I thought
he believed it himself. Well, torture is gradually used for more and
more crimes, until it is routine even for minor traffic violations.
The moral I draw from this story is that if something is wrong, be
it torture, slavery, or involuntary taxation, then even a little of it
is wrong, even if it is for a good cause.
Speaking of worthy government programs, I read in today's Washington
Post (8/8/86) about the Dairy Termination Program. In order to reduce
the milk surplus (which was caused by government subsidies at taxpayer
expense) the government is paying farmers to stop producing milk. The
Post interviews several farmers, some of whom said they were planning
to go out of the milk business this year anyway. The article mentions
that more than 100 farmers will be getting MORE THAN A MILLION DOLLARS
*EACH*! And the whole program will cost the taxpayers well over a
BILLION dollars! If this doesn't represent a good example of
government run amock, I don't know what does, or what ever could. The
average worker works 4 months each year just to pay his taxes. And
this tax money is being used to create millionaires. To create
millionaires by paying people not to work, not to produce.
I eagerly await a defense of this program and of similar government
boondoggles.
...Keith
[ Just who are you expecting to defend this? (Besides a milk farmer
who contributes heavily to various political endevors to keep the milk
commision in business). Get serious. -CWM]
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