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Show Thinking can be dangerous! A lot of people are glad the law and order issue did. Politicians are especially glad, for it s a strong ana issue which has been proven to successfully keep the peop off of real problems. Witness ,f you will, a recent poll on contemporary issues taken ,n Utah. , . Something like 75 percent of those polled felt that law an ore er was the number one issue in the country. Now get this nose people by and large said that law and order wasn't a problem in their particular neighborhood. As we see it, this means that everybody is worried about law and order, but it isn't a problem anywhere. If nobody thin k: i that law and order is a problem in their neighborhood, then law and order problem, and everybody is worried about nothing. It s ue c r me rates are rising here and there, but they're only a superf.c I syn j ton of deeper problems. If people find it necessary to rip of so e ty n order to survive, it's only because our priont.es have forced them to do it. Hut. unfortunatelypoliticians find it easier to buy more guns and lubs and beat the problem down than to use money and human resources to solve the problem at its roots. And that is precisely why we have a law and order issue. If all of us ignorant masses out here didn't have a fake law and order issue to worry about, then we might start thinking about the real problems that are threatening to sink us. Problems such as the defense budget, which spends nearly halt of the government's income; The economy, in which we have the theoretically impossible situation of high unemployment and high inflation at the same time; The war, which is supposedly winding down but in terms of money and human life is still winding up; 1 he environment, which has a lot of shiny new laws and friends, but is still going downhill in terms of the quality of human life; Our foreign policy, which has a nasty habit of supporting dictators, dope pushers, warlords and civilian-slaughters; and so on. Yeah, suppose the people found out about all of these things: Wouldn't they call for some radical changes in both our values and our priorities? It would mean an end not only to the status quo but to traditional politics itself. Imagine! Our leaders would have to start answering to the people! The law and order issue has the added advantage that if one want wants to get elected, one can't go wrong by coming out in favor of it. After all, everybody's in favor of law and order, aren't they? You'll start hearing it any time now. Political campaigns are getting into high gear, and the news will be full of this guy's stand on law and order and that guy's stand on law and order. National politicians, with a few exceptions, will espouse law and order to get our minds off the economy, the war, the environment, etc. Local politicians, with few exceptions, will talk forever about law and order, just to keep us from thinking about welfare, public education, the state prison, etc. So don't buy it, okay? Don't stop at anything less than the relevant issues; settle for nothing but the truth. |