A NEW YEAR

By Donald M.  Heavrin

 

Bear in mind that the war in Iraq is a good example of the fallacy of democracy.  When you are fighting a war to establish democracy, there is no way to tell what you’re fighting for until the war is over and an election held.  The Iraqi war is a case in point. The United States wanted to have someone other than the Shiite candidate elected.

                                                     * * * * * * *

Moving on to new information, the newspaper brought an editorial by Denise Scott Brown who bills herself as an architect and urban planner in Philadelphia.  According to Ms. Brown, Americans who can afford houses will probably continue to ignore the plight of those who cannot.  Then she makes some suggestions about how communities should be planned.  And to no one’s surprise she would like to see the government playing a bigger role in urban planning.  Please note that when you’re dealing with someone of her political persuasion, regardless of her educational credentials, more government is always the solution.  At the present moment in order to  build a house anywhere in the country, you have to pass more than a dozen inspectors, plus zoning boards of all ilk, and Ms. Brown wants more government.

Any time someone suggests more government, ask yourself the question, ‘Who is the government?’  The answer is alarming.  The government is a hoard of bureaucrats who have acquired power through a 6,000 page rule book, and their egos require that they enforce every rule.  Also note the people who control every aspect of your life cannot get a job in the private sector.

One of the solutions to the housing issue, which does not require the intervention of a hoard of bureaucrats, is to allow all money spent on housing to be tax deductible.  That includes rents that are paid.  That would be a fair across-the-board solution to the problem that would help people who do not own homes save enough money to buy a home.  Also, all money spent on medical care should be 100% deductible, and all money spent on education, tuition, books, housing, food, etc.  should be 100% deductible. 

‘But wait’ cried the bureaucrats, ‘This could cause a drastic reduction in the bureaucracy, and we would be out of work!’