My first two days back into the radio world have gone reasonably well…though they should be much better as time goes on. Shaggy, Katie, Jenny and Jamie have been very patient with an old timer whose broadcasting and timing skills have somewhat atrophied. For those of you who enjoy rubber-necking at accidents, we are on 1370 WSPD (AM) Wednesday and Friday from 6:05 pm to 6:57:50pm with “Eye on Toledo”…even though we discuss area, regional, state, national, global and intergalactic issues as well. Please join us, if you can.
It’s really great to see that the campaign to convince more theaters to show “Atlas Shrugged, Part I,” has been rather successful. Last that I checked, they’ve gone from 12 markets to more than a hundred. Is Rand’s philosophy perfect? No. Given the oppressive natures of despotism and tyranny, her emphasis on rugged individualism and societal, governmental, and jealous interventionism offers a clearer cleaner path to humane living. Oppression sucks the humanity out of us more thoroughly than selfishness does. Selfishness can develop into enlightened self interest whereas oppression becomes more oppressive. As an example, many considered Andrew Carnegie to be somewhat of a robber baron because of his harsh business practices. He is the one, however, who built libraries in many small communities across the land. Once oppression gains the upper hand, it does not soften its approach. It may be overthrown, but an oppressive state does not voluntarily become a sweetie.
In a similar vein, I received a very thoughtful email this morning from Mike, a reader of this column. In it he identified some governmental actions that have been positive for our prosperity and our quality of life. He also recognized various overreaches by government that suppressed opportunity, and as a result of his business experience, he encountered some variance among states that made it nearly impossible to conduct commerce on a national scale. His analysis is similar to what many of us have gone through as we try to find the perfect balance between freedom and responsibility. Consider a family Thanksgiving dinner. There may be 40-60 people assembled together….blood kin, in-laws and outlaws. Some of them you absolutely love and adore. You are rather fond of some others, and are annoyed by another portion. Bottom line is that you are all different even though you gather under the same family banner. Each of you has succeeded or stumbled as you have traveled through life. If tragedy or misfortune should strike, you would go to the wall for one another. How would the family dynamic be altered if the patriarch or matriarch ruled with an iron hand? What would happen if the successful were constantly FORCED to carry the water for the lazy or unfortunate ones? The family can function reasonably well if the interactions among the members are allowed to develop naturally, but when they are enforced or choreographed, they falter. I do owe Mike a more thorough response, and he will get it sometime next week.
Ayn Rand and Mike lead me to the conclusion that the path I now seek, total restoration of constitutional government, is the right one. I would rather err on the side of inefficient liberty than to be controlled and limited by efficient or fair tyranny. Besides, government is never efficient or fair…merely tyrannical. One-stop shopping wherein the government limits competition and choice is often frustrating and unsatisfying. So, give me the chaos of freedom where entrepreneurs start, sputter and succeed or fail rather than the consistency of big unresponsive government growing bigger and more inefficient. Bad air, snail darters and national wilderness areas may not always be priorities for a free unfettered nation, but as we prosper, we look beyond just placing food on the table and seek other ways of improving our lives. The error has been our handing those functions or desires to the government….as I usually remark…who has no heart, no mind and no soul. Once the momentum has started with government, it never knows when to stop…or back off. People working together in the private sector will set a goal, accomplish the task, and go back to their daily lives. Government continually roams the universe looking for new violators or fresh new areas that have been unregulated.
I do not trust my government.
Have a wonderful remainder of the weekender. We’ll return on Monday.
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