Taking Stock: Government is a growing organism

Dear Mr. Berko: About a dozen years ago, you wrote that our government is a living life form, and you explained how it thrives and why our government must continue to get bigger. Could you reprint that column, which in light of the new health care legislation makes good sense? I would like to use that article to promote discussions in two of the high school classes I teach; if the administration will permit it.

D.G., Cleveland

Dear D.G.: Here's the article, and I've had dozens of similar requests.
Life is a continuing process of evolution and sometimes devolution in which animals consume food from which they extract energy, grow, adapt to surroundings and reproduce. All life has a survival instinct, a process that protects itself from predators and other forms of diminution. The stronger survive because they control access to important resources such as food, shelter, and species with whom they mate.
The strong ensure their dominance over the weak by allocating resources to members of a flock, herd, pride or society. As more resources are controlled -- this is a "prime directive" -- their dominance increases, ensuring the continuity of power. Now for hundreds of years, science has toiled to create life in a laboratory using every imaginable element, in every possible permutation, under every conceivable condition and failed. But where science has ignominiously failed, politicians have succeeded, and created a powerful and permanent life form called "Big Government."
The "prime directive" of Big Government is to control as many resources as possible, reaching its tentacles like a giant squid into every nook and cranny of our social and economic life. Big Government controls Social Security, education, farm subsidies, Medicaid, Medicare, taxes, food programs, mineral rights, housing, immigration, the courts, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, banks, airspace, airwaves, armed forces, communications -- you name it, Big Government's mucinous tentacles have a firm, controlling grasp. So with increasing numbers of resources under its control, a government cleverly allocates them to an increasing numbers of citizens who become further dependant on its dominion.
It's a wonderfully effective concept: By relieving Americans of their responsibilities, Americans will continue to look toward the government for their comfort, care, and happiness. What a wonderful idea -- no cares, concerns, or bothers -- the "Stepford Americans."
This is not much different than a pet and its master. Our government becomes a living, breathing life form with a survival instinct stronger than the sum of its parts. But as the numbers of dependants increase, the government must expand its control of resources to meet demand and ensure its survival. It's important to understand that any reduction in the distribution of assets to the people is considered a weakness, a challenge to control and a loss of dominance.
And now we have national health care. It isn't enough that Big Government controls Medicaid and Medicare and the Veterans Administration. Well, in keeping with its prime directive, Big Government now controls the health allocations for the remaining 70 percent of Americans who have private health insurance. So with 100 percent of health care assets and applications under control, BG will allocate those resources to protect its dominance.
However, the most important resource of all has eluded government's grasp and that resource is the Church. But the solution is simple and probably agreeable to both sides. It's called the "Final Solution" wherein the Church and Government merge.

Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 1416, Boca Raton, FL 33429 or e-mail him at mjberko@yahoo.com. To find out more about Malcolm Berko and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2008 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.