IRS? DMV? Thank the Stars for These Fine Institutions

The word "democracy" is often used to describe the root theory behind America's government and history. But in the United States we have a constitutional republic which is quite different.

The U.S. also has a draconian financial/tax/transportation matrix into which it pours its citizenry, whether it be the IRS or the Social Security system or everything else in between. Violating any statute of that matrix (and that's where the allegorical "Matrix" movie series gains its distinction) leads to almost immediate pain.

That is why many elements of our existence are tied to, say, a driver's license, which ostensibly gives one "permission" to drive when in actuality you should be able to drive, or travel, anywhere you want without restriction and without any licensing of any sort. It's like having to have a license to step outside, or walk to the store, or ride a bicycle.

But since cars and trucks can wreak havoc if misused, people have banded together with their constutionally elected representatives and established s bruising bureaucracy, the notorious DMV, that puts the hammer down on anyone who has done virtually anything wrong, and bars that person from legally driving.

The IRS is another source of irritation for most people, but it does an overwhelming good by not only redistributing income from the fabulously rich to the poverty-stricken poor, but by policing cash transactions with the accuracy of a megacomputer to ensure that the Enrons of the world don't get away from ripping off the rest of us. So before you badmouth the IRS, remember they quietly save the lives of average, powerless people every day.

That brings us to Social Security, without question the most successful pain-relieving government entity ever invented. Sure, it's a pain to have the FICA deduction from your pay, but your grandparents are getting it right back and you don't have to directly support their old-age complications. Ditto on Medicare and Medicaid.

Better be glad that pure democracy is an experiment that was scrapped some ages ago in Ancient Greece. Much better is the Roman republic, with all its flaws and warts.

Project Seek: Onassis, Kennedy and the Gemstone Thesis

There’s More Where This Came From