heliotis (04/20/83)
I have begun to apply for jobs around the country, so before I go to "The Valley" (Silicon, I presume?), is Mr. Akston's letter typical of the political climate out there?
guy (04/20/83)
Point 3: "I'm talking about using the government struc-
tures we already have, to halt ... [pollution]" and "... and
empowered, aggressive Environmental Protection Agency."
Answer: To use the power of government to control (as
opposed to provide Legal, Police, and Army services) is
dangerous. Governmental regulations have a VERY high
"momentum"; by the time they take effect, the problem is
moot, and after the problem is solved, the regulations are
virtually impossible to stop.
Is this true of, say, the Clean Air Act? Was the atmosphere noticably
cleaner, due to "other causes", by the time the Clean Air Act took effect?
Or was it just the case that by the time the Clean Air Act took effect,
the problem was "moot" because the air was cleaner (due to the Clean Air
Act's having taken effect)?
Point 4: (The continental divide):
Answer: The idea that there is an inherent conflict
between "business" and "society" gives rise to the ultimate
definition of "consumer" (e.g. one who produces nothing.)
Proponents of this idea also seem to place "organized busi-
ness" in the same class as "organized crime." These con-
cepts are foreign to me (read "foreign" == "not American.")
There are inherent conflicts between the interests of business and other
interests of society. Production *is* one legitimate interest of society,
but so is clean air (all people who don't think clean air is a legitimate
interest of society please send your donations to the American Cancer
Society). Business has no intrinsic interest in clean air because dirty
air doesn't cost them anything, but clean air does. If you were running
a factory, would you put a treatment plant at your waste pipes just because
you were a "good guy"? If you did, the stockholders would probably
(justifiedly) ask for your removal at the next Annual Meeting...
As such, there must be some mechanism to resolve this conflict, and such
mechanisms are usually governmental, whether it's done by imposing a
"pollution tax" to put the pollution burden back on the polluter to give
them an economic incentive not to pollute, or whether it's done by laws
explicitly forbidding levels of pollution beyond a specified point.
You chastise people who say that government/"society" is "good" and business
is "bad". Don't fall into the opposite trap of saying that government is "bad"
and business/industry is "good".
On the other hand, people who are too free with the term "not American" are
bad. America is *NOT* inherently capitalistic, *NOT* inherently pro-free-
enterprise, etc. I grow tired of hearing that America's role is that of the
beacon of unfettered capitalism to an unenlightened world. It doesn't say
ANYWHERE in the Constitution that "mixed economies and socialist economies are
right out." Sorry, son, we are a PLURALIST society, and you're going to have
to argue with a LOT of people if you want to declare that socialism is "not
American." (If Eugene V. Debs were alive today he'd be spinning in his grave.)
For another example, is America a Christian country just because most of its
culture (or, at least, most of its "official" culture) is derived from other
Christian cultures? I think not.
Point 5: "We have a President who puts industrial
growth before the health of the people ..."
Answer:
(*** FLAME ON! ***)
Does Mr. Sehr suggest that wood stove heated, candle
lighted, huts filled with earth shoe wearing, Bruce ("I took
a wrong turn, and I just kept going") Springsteen loving,
socialist broke-intellectuals are the future of America ?
If so, any "obsolete" managers and directors are welcome to
move here to the valley ...
(*** FLAME OFF! ***)
I suspect Mr. Sehr said no such thing. Yes, this is a flame; it generates
a lot of heat, but unfortunately little light. Have you ever SEEN a
"earth shoe wearing, Bruce Springsteen loving, socialist broke-intellectual"
in a wood-stove heated, candle-lit hut? (By the way, my Libertarian office-
mate also loves Springsteen. Should he be excommunicated?) Frankly, yes,
the tendency you describe there does exist IN PART in some people, but I
am usually careful to look carefully to see if that's what they're REALLY
saying.
Guy Harris
RLG Corporation
{seismo,mcnc,we13}!rlgvax!guy