Thought for today

What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams.
Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (1883-1957)From Word a Day

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I promise I'll pick back up on Bud Welch's story (there's a charming denoument), and there's a little more to tell about that musical weekend — namely, my experience with a basement band.

But, recent events have lead me back to wonder about the role of government. My first assumption about the role of government is the belief that a group of people working on a large project is more efficient than a single person. Menonite house-raising comes immediately to mind as an example. So long as we bipods require some rate of exchange, such projects require money. Even the menonites have to buy lumber for that house. So long as this is the case, government will require to collect money in order to provide services — that is, taxes.

This is where our current situation seems a little schizophrenic to me. Pretty universal that folk will vote against taxes when they're brought to a popular vote. Yet folk still expect the same level of service. And whether the service comes from the community, the state, or the national level is irrelevant — it still requires tax dollars to run the machine. At least until we reach that communist [lower case is intentional] utopia .

Many services work best on the local level — water delivery, for example; local police service, for another. Some services work best on a national level. One I remember from American history studies is the regulation of interstate commerce. I suspect even the most ardent "state's rights" supporters would agree this makes sense.

So perhaps — as I have suggested in a previous post — it's time to re-assess the role of government in today's society. I'll return to this topic as time and the muse allow.