Maurice:
There is an old saw that goes "Americans hate Congress but love their Congressman" and therein lies one of the major problems with our beloved Republic. The duly elected gentleman from say Kansas may want the best for America as a whole, but knows that his job is predicated on pandering to his constituency. God help him were he to vote for some legislation that eliminated entitlements, and with it jobs, from his state. The tobacco industry, and its congressional sponsors, are in my mind, the worst, most venal, pernicious and hypocritical of all as they strive to protect tobacco farmers while our country exports cancer to the rest of the world.
Our system is far from perfect. I recently read a depressing story describing how a sisterhood in NYC was prevented, by city statute, from opening a homeless shelter. It seems that NYC regulations require the installation of an elevator in any building undergoing "substantive" refurbishment. This requirement would have added over $100,000 to the remodeling costs and, therefore, busted the budget for the project. Despite the fact that said homeless individuals might have gratefully tolerated the "horrors" of a three story climb, city officialdom could not see their way clear to grant a variance. Better for the homeless to sleep on the sidewalk, then risk the inhuman indignity of a staircase!
Bureaucracy is a creeping disease that appears to be strangling Japan to death, while simply wounding us lucky souls situated in North America. Oh well, enough rambling, back to work.
Best regards,
Gregg |
