Do you ever remember when you were young, and an adult told you to do something, and you asked; why, because they were doing exactly what they told you not to do? I guess it goes back to that famous quote; "do as I say, not as I do.
" However, those types of things stick in our minds, and they don't seem fair, we all have an inherent sense of fairness, and we know when we are not being treated correctly, or something crosses the line.
Now then, there may be reasons why parents and adults told us not to do something, but if they didn't explain why, we are left with the same feelings of mistrust.
Okay so, let's talk about this for second because I have a few examples to share with you.
Right now, online gambling is not permitted in the United States.
There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the biggest reason is it conflicts with the casinos, who have an incredible lobby in Congress.
It would seem that folks should be permitted to gamble online if they so choose and the consensus is that folks should have that freedom.
Perhaps if those gambling websites cheat them, they will soon be discovered and people will quit playing.
Nevertheless the old theory of "caveat emptor" is not considered relevant here by those in the authoritative power and government.
Oh, but it gets much worse.
On April 20, 2012 the Wall Street Journal had a piece titled "States Up the Online Ante - Push to Sell Lottery Tickets on the Web Faces Resistance From Retailers, Casinos," by Alexandria Berzon.
The article noted that $55 Billion was earned in sales by State Run lotteries in the United States in 2011.
The other day, there was an interesting cartoon in the Wall Street Journal.
There was a father sitting at the kitchen table reading his newspaper, and the sun came up to him and said; "dad, I'm considering a career in organized crime.
" The dad simply asked him; "Government, or private sector?" And I'm sure you've seen the bumper sticker which says; "Don't Steal, the government hates competition!" Well, isn't this a case in point? After all, here we have the government which outlaws something, and then decides that it's okay for it to do it, because it needs to sell more lottery tickets to shore up its budget shortfalls due to incompetence, and inability to manage the ever-growing blob of bureaucracy.
I find this hypocrisy somewhat ironic, but I've also come to the conclusion, that we can't expect anything more from our government, this is how they operate, how they've always operated, and how they will continue to operate in the future.
No wonder the public surveys keep coming back with a vote of no confidence or trust in our government.
What a sad state of affairs indeed.
Please consider all this and think on it.