reactorpic.jpg

December 5, 2001

Could you persuade the Pope?

Until I read Patty Manick's comments in last week's Tribune, I hadn't been aware I owed an apology to Nancy Hall, or that I was afraid of her. Surely Ms. Manick's wrong when she says a majority of Americans are "very suspicious of our government agencies." In a government as huge and complex as ours, there must be some faults, but on balance our government is a good one, even a great one, being run for the most part by good people doing their best. It's not the evil monster a few folks claim.

As a licensed proofreader I'm acutely aware that government documents and those who write them are not without fault, and presumably the governments behind those documents aren't perfect either. I presume neither Ms. Manick nor Ms. Hall are faulting government for its typographical and spelling errors.

If I assume Ms. Manick distrusts government for reasons similar to Ms. Hall's, I can assure her most Americans disagree with her. That her particular associates agree with her cynical assessment of our government is hardly surprising, and doesn't contradict the previous sentence. Most of us feel more comfortable around folks with whom we agree. You'll rarely meet a dyed in the wool South Carolina-style Republican in a Berkeley coffee shop. Most Pacificans are (more or less) liberals. We tend to associate with those who are like us.

A few Pacificans probably hang around the American Opinion Bookstore in Vallemar, avidly reading the publications of the John Birch Society, but I'm not one of them. Odds are good you aren't either.

Nancy Hall doesn't trust some governmental agencies. Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms don't trust some governmental agencies. You can bet a Sacagewea dollar they aren't the same agencies, or if they happen to be the same, that Strom, Jesse and Nancy mistrust them for different reasons.

The U.S. government is and always will be a work in progress. It will never be perfect. We'll never elect an ideal president, but no president in the last 100 years has been anywhere near as evil as you might believe from the Nancy Hall letter that started this exchange, not even Richard Nixon. If the U.S. Government, through some strange combination of circumstances, should actually satisfy Nancy Hall and Patty Manick and fulfill their goals, most Americans would be outraged. Politically correct Berkeley-type liberals are a fun group, but nationwide they're a tiny minority. There may be more Borzoi fanciers or slide rule users than Berkeley liberals. Most of the problems generated by government happen because it's trying to satisfy contradictory demands. It's simply not possible to satisfy both Strom and Nancy, Jesse and Paul, Ralph Nader and Pat Buchanan. A vast majority of Americans who voted in the last presidential election preferred either Al Gore or George W. Bush. I think Gore should be our president. He got the majority of the votes. But I doubt President Al would have satisfied those, like Nancy Hall, who take offense at the actions of every government since Eisenhower's. It's one thing to criticize one governmental action, or one president. If no president in a half century has managed to satisfy your needs and desires, perhaps it's time to take a good look at what it is you expect from government. All real democracies are compromises. If you aren't willing to settle for less than perfection, perhaps you'd be better off living in Vatican City, where the only person you'd have to persuade would be the Pope.

E mail Paul Azevedo at Paul@thereactor.net. Check his website at http://www.thereactor.net.

 
[This Week] [2001 Archive] [2000 Archive] [1999 Archive] [1998 Archive]