In "A 'cooperative affair'" (Commentary, Oklahoma Gazette, Sept. 30, 2009), Scott Jones asks "some big questions like, 'Exactly what is government?' and 'What is its purpose?'" So where does Jones, a Christian minister, turn for answers? Jesus? The Bible? Theology? No. He turns to Will Rogers. No wonder Jones' denomination is the fastest shrinking in America. (www.wfn.org/2009/02/msg00203.html)
Jones writes, "According to the director of the most recent 'Tea Party,' the protestors 'want the government to get out of our business.' Seems I missed something, because I sorta thought that the government was 'our business.'... Sign me up for that 'co-operative affair.'"
Really? If the government outlawed abortion, homosexual sodomy and extramarital sex, and left-wingers screamed "right to privacy" (left-speak for "get out of our business"), would Jones slam them with, "I sorta thought that the government was 'our business,'" and write, "Sign me up for that 'co-operative affair'" in that scenario?
Note Jones' double standard. When government does what Jones likes, like redistributing other people's wealth or controlling other people's healthcare, government is "our business." But when government does what Jones dislikes, like proscribing abortion or certain sexual conduct, government must respect people's "right to privacy."
When the issue is abortion, the left howls about "privacy," "choice," "doctor-patient confidentiality," etc., and fights any government access to abortion records. But when the issue is health care, the left supports President Obama putting your medical records on government computers and dictating what tests and treatments your doctor may offer you. Of course, the government would never use your confidential medical records against you. Just ask Joe the Plumber.
Jones claims our interconnectedness and the magnitude of our problems require intervention by government, the "one institution that is the cooperative affair of everyone." Actually, as the one institution entitled to shoot you for not cooperating, government is better described as "that coercive affair," which is why the Constitution limits the government's power. Recall that in 1933, while facing bigger problems than we (for now) do, the democratically elected "cooperative affair of everyone" in Germany took control of banks, manufacturing and health care (sound familiar?), and then capped this power grab by exterminating the disabled, homosexuals and six million Jews.
Any demagogue can construe a problem as so big as to need government intervention. Are Social Security and Medicare Ponzi schemes going broke from 50 million would-be taxpayers being killed by abortion? Ban abortion. Is HIV killing half-a-million people after racing through the homosexual subculture? Ban homosexuality. Is heterosexual promiscuity spreading venereal diseases and creating fatherless children to populate gangs and a permanent underclass? Ban extramarital sex.
Jones should be careful how much of that "co-operative" affair he signs up for.
"K.A. Straughn, Norman
