Tuesday here already? Damn, time passes quickly when doing something interesting, like reading John Stossel's book "Give Me A Break". He starts by blasting the corrupt Right, the Government, Politicians, lawyers - the easy targets. He screams over the corruption and waste that is our Government, and repeatedly hammers home that often when the Government takes over something or passes laws intended to help people, it usually makes things worse. Stossel argues that private enterprise serves the Public far better than Government, showing his Libertarian teeth. But his bite goes both directions and he rips, what he calls, the Totalitarian Left - those folks who take Political Correctness to an extreme. (I blogged the same topic many moons ago.) In short, he shows equally that both sides' interests aren't with you but are with primarily themselves. That is, those in power seek to stay in power except when overthrown by those seeking power. And those are two of his themes: Explicitly, the Government usually does things worse for Americans that then the Private sector, that seemingly helpful Laws usually end up hurting more people than helping; Implicitly, it's about Power.
Stossel mentions that we've become a Nation of Victims, with everyone believing that we're entitled to something. He rails against the greed of many lawyers and the abundance of too many lawsuits, suggesting that we adopt what the rest of the World uses: Losers pay. Possibly a good solution but to use Stossel's own methodology, this may hurt more people than help in that unless lawsuits have some kind of time element for resolution what's to keep a company on the apparent losing end of a lawsuit against a person just keeping the case going and going? Worse, a person battling a company had better have a damn perfect lawyer because one technical or procedural mistake and you're looking at paying a bevy of corporate lawyers, even though you may have won the case given a good lawyer. What's to keep the losing side from appealing and re-appealing?
At the end of the book Stossel poses two problems and solutions. The first is the above too many lawsuits. and the second problem is that of a bloated Government to which he suggests shrinking it but his suggestion is without analysis. Because he is against Government welfare - which creates a dependent class of unmotivated Americans, those departments that deal with such could be cut. I'm sure the Libertarians have a whole litany of what could go. But, again, there's two sides to this. Cut those departments and what happens to the millions out of work? How does this tackle the real problem of influence by lobbyists and cronyism? Most importantly, what incentive is there for those in power to make these changes? Look at Bush. Early first term, he talked about shrinking Government. Boom - 9/11 - and Bush creates the massive Department of Homeland Security. Face it -for all the rhetoric - neither Democrats nor Republicans will shrink Government anytime soon because growth of Government means growth of power and influence.
Despite my nitpicks, I liked the book. There was good food for thought. Take the simple question "Who owns your body?" Most people would answer that they do. If so, then you can do what you want to your own body, right? Get tattoos, piercings, hair dyed. Stossel mentions that it's his body. As long as he doesn't hurt anyone else, he should be able to use drugs and then he's off on a rant against the ineffective Drug War. I agree. It is my body. If I want to smoke, imbibe, inject, or snort that's my business. The Government doesn't need to protect us from us.
But if my body is my own, Stossel writes, don't I also have the right to end it? In a similar vein, I contend, then a woman has the right to abort. I contend that the country does not have the right to draft since we've never, ever given the country the rights to our body. Note that this isn't about Morality, it's about ownership. Occchh, I could go on and on. Find a copy of the book, read it, and THINK.
For more on John Stossel, check out his ABC page.
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