Every year I perform a small audit. I make a list of the governments (and some agencies) whom I am inclined to believe. That is, when I read a statement from the government or the agency, I start off thinking they are telling the truth, or at least trying to. It has become, over the years, a relatively quick audit. Start by excluding the many governments and agencies I rarely or never encounter. That is most of the world, which should not be a surprise. I cannot recall the last statement from the government of Mongolia or Belize or the California Franchise tax Board that I read. That helps with time management.
Not on the list, the US government, the Italian government, the Russian and Chinese governments, the British government, the governments of the States of Utah, California, New York, Virginia, Illinois, and so on and so on and so on. Some of these used to be on the list. Maybe I should buy some desert property and guns to fit in -- no. It is just that the political and economic corruption levels are, to my eyes, now to a point where it usually seems a fraud, whatever it is they are saying. Police are always wrongly suspected of wrongdoing, and the arrested is always evil. Prosecutors never make mistakes and never engage in vendettas and never stack their records. Set aside the great orange boffoon, announcements from the US government seem too often connected to truth the way advertising is. The Justice Department? No, don't really think it produces anything too concerned about truth. Some I never expected to have anything but an accidental or convenient connection to truth (e.g, Russia or China). This is making me a bit depressed. I wonder if it is any worse or different, or the change is in me. That is the depressing bit.
Or maybe it is thinking again about the oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and being unable to find anything but realism in the practice.
Who is on the list?
Recent Comments