POWER PLAY: LET GOVERNMENT STICK TO WHAT IT DOES BEST

I am of the basic Libertarian view that government should stick to doing the few things it does well and leave the rest up to the private sector or society in general.

When it comes to throwing wars, making treaties and building roads, nobody does a better job than the federal government. Can you imagine what a mess things would be if private corporations had the power to declare war?

California wine producers would band together in a loose military alliance to launch an offensive against France in a brutal culmination of all that champagne/sparkling wine bickering. Large manufacturers would invade underdeveloped countries to strip them of raw materials. McDonald's would become entrenched in every town in every country. (Alright, that one's already happened.)

It would be just a matter of time before competing domestic producers turned on each other, plunging consumers into civil war. However, it would be a glorious site to see thousands of troops resplendent in the red and white colors of Budweiser marching out of St. Louis to sack and destroy Milwaukee, Wis., and Golden, Colo.

Fortunately that sort of thing isn't allowed. Unfortunately, government tries its hand at a goodly number of things that it has neither the business nor the talent to do well, and in many cases it strips away personal freedom in the process.

For example, some politicians routinely frighten the dickens out of me by voicing opposition over whatever bit of popular culture is currently fashionable to voice opposition over.

Not that I mind people speaking out about what they dislike. Righteous indignation is part of what makes this country great. If Bob Dole gets off pontificating about the evils of rap music, let him have his fun. Of course, it made him look pretty darn foolish when he admitted that he had never actually listened to rap music and therefore didn't really have any idea whatsoever what he was talking about.

What really bothers me is when Dole and his ilk move from the complaining stage to the legislation stage. As the theory goes, offensive equals bad, and bad should equal illegal, or at the very least restricted.

The counterpoint usually is that if you don't like something, don't watch, listen, read, wear, eat, drink, smoke or sleep with it. In other words, you mind your own business, I'll mind my own business and everybody will be happy.

But that rarely works. When some people get it into their heads that they don't like something, they simply can't accept that others might.

Every couple of years somebody takes art, music or whatever to a new level and people begin hollering. Without moving forward to experience new things or look at old topics in different ways, creativity becomes stagnant.

If you don't like something, give people good reasons why not to listen to, watch or read it. If that works, companies will stop providing that product. However, if your reasons are unconvincing, don't try to convince the government to impose your will on others.

~Marc Powers is a staff writer for the Southeast Missourian.