Cartoon 735: One Born Every Minute

What is it government should do? It should provide for the general welfare and be a counter balance to impulse and disparity. Providing for the general welfare means making certain infra structure, such as the electric grid, roads, dams, bridges, water works and sewage systems are built and maintained. It also implies defense.

The American system of government has failed in providing for the general welfare. Appropriate funds were not allocated for infra-structure or social sustaining things of the nation such as education and healthcare. We cannot even allocate funds to mass transit. The problem is American culture. The monomania of individualism has resulted in anarchy. The wealthy have exploited this condition and captured control of the system of things. It is why even during this financial crisis their wealth has reportedly increased 44%. What is truly amazing is that the populous supports this disparity that is decidedly not to their advantage. They live in the world of cultural mythology, that their wealth in this system of things is just around the corner. Their faith will keep this system going. But they are coming upon a reality that eventually they will have to accept. The reality that they live in a second world country. The bounty of a previous time, marketing, subterfuge, and a willful myopia has hid it this long.

Reportedly P.T. Barnum made this claim about the gullibility of people, “there is a ‘sucker’ born every minute”.