A sarcastic letter from a Dear Reader. Our comment follows:
“The analogy you revived, about the Pope having no power to back up his condemnation of the Nazis was especially poignant.
“The brilliant insight you’d expressed about these Islamists is truly revealing. Without standing armies under a governmental hierarchy, they’re about as much a threat as that stupid, self-absorbed, impotent Pope.
“By pointing out the obvious fact that all this ridiculous waste of money and effort in trying to route [sic] them out and neutralise their activities is so much a mindless goose-chase, you have encouraged me to consider some sort of political pressure to realise an even greater economy!
“Think of it! Let’s all get together to force governments worldwide to eliminate the hugely wasteful expense involved in dispatching millions of dangerously hapless, bumbling police officers from endlessly meandering around the planet, needlessly poking into everyone’s private lives to find criminals. After all, without armies under structured governmental control, criminals are nothing more than an infrequent incidental inconvenience. Who should care if a fairly large proportion of them acquire machine guns, shoulder fired rocket launchers and caches of sophisticated explosives? Any chance that they’ll get their hands on enough biological or radioactive agents to affect more than a few thousand people every few years, is so slim that any level of concern is completely overblown! No armies...no governments...no problem!
“Surely, we could eradicate more than half of the losses of money attributable to criminal activity! We can just absorb the initial cost, and save trillions. The whole thing has demonstrably proven to be a failed effort, after all. Tens of thousands of years, we’ve been futilely trying to eliminate crime! For what? We’ve still got them slinking around in the shadows. Hell, any people affected were bound to die at some point anyway. It’s all so obvious, isn’t it? Just ignore it!
“How about it? You sign over all the proceeds of your publications to me, and I’ll immediately get to work on it! People need to wise up! Let’s join forces and help them see the light!”
Our dear reader presumes that we are opposed to fighting crime. Not so. It was a crime to bring down the World Trade Center. The cops should have gotten on the case and brought those responsible to justice.
Armies are made to fight armies – to protect the state. Cops are on the beat to fight criminals, and to protect individuals and individuals’ property...unless you live in a Banana Republic or a police state – where the army pretends to fight criminals...but actually controls the homeland population.
But we do not want to join the argument. We merely want to understand why people think the way they do. What is clearly a mistake to us...is clearly a necessity to someone else. And both of us have the same facts before us. Why the difference of opinion?
Bill Bonner
The Daily Reckoning Australia
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About the Author
Best-selling investment author Bill Bonner is the founder and president of Agora Publishing, one of the world's most successful consumer newsletter companies. Owner of both Fleet Street Publications and MoneyWeek magazine in the UK, he is also author of the free daily e-mail The Daily Reckoning.
Comment by geoff on 14 September 2007:
solving actual crimes these days is so academic - so much more fun to murder a million suspect types - trash their country and make a few bucks for your buddies.
Comment by Sean Healy on 16 September 2007:
Sometimes the more power you've got the less you are likely to criticise for risk of losing it.
Neville Chamberlain ??
The Pope had enough power to keep the Nazis out of the vatican, rescue hundreds of thousands of Jews and continue the propaganda effort against Hitler in and outside of Germany.
All this after the military armies of Poland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France etc were done and dusted to a large degree.
In fact it took the combined forces of the USA and Russia together with the remnants of the British Empire to 'back up' their opposition to fascism.
The Pope did pretty well in the circumstances.