LETTERS: MORE SIGNS OF GOVERNMENT DEPENDENCY

To the editor:

A couple of items have come out in the media that I think we will accept without a fight. Both further infringe on individual liberty. Both confirm the current trend in our thinking. Both continue the flow from individual responsibility for actions to complete dependency on government.

The first item is the FBI's background check for all firearm purchases. This is just another step in the war against guns and personal liberty. It won't be long until it will be illegal to purchase any firearm from anyone except government-sanctioned, background-checking facilities. Then it will come to pass that all Americans will have to register their firearms. Anyone suspected of withholding information will be subject to being turned in by neighbors. This will give the police the right to invade your home, search for unregistered firearms and confiscate those weapons. The last step in this scenario will be the total ban on any citizen's right to own a firearm. Only government personnel will have the right to carry weapons.

What about hunting? Hunting is already government-controlled. The control will be expanded to include issuing the firearm to be used. Government already controls when, what and how much you can hunt. Of course, there will be more taxes to help cover the cost of regulating your life.

The second item is Attorney General Janet Reno's decision not to investigate the administration's campaign-finance scandal. I will agree with Paul Greenberg's Nov. 30 column: "Deprive the laws of the land of their force, and then soon lose their moral authority over us. No wonder Americans come to assume that we are ruled by polls, or the election results, or the spirit of the times, or the most persuasive personalities. Anyone who points out the dangers of this mindless course on which we have embarked can expect to be denounced as a Puritan, which today is a far more damaging accusation that Perjurer."

We are becoming a nation that chooses which crimes and which people we are going to punish. We choose what the media will report to enhance our current war, and we allow that the end justifies the means. We are conditioned. We accept what is given to us and thank the government for our current prosperity. We do not pay attention to history. We will not pursue knowledge that shows that prosperity is brought about by many factors. If it is good, it is in spite of government, not because of it. And we will expect government to keep us safe and happy. We are becoming a nation of government dependency instead of a nation of individuals.

Every day the right of each American to his privacy and pursuit of happiness is diminished. This has been going on for over 200 years. But I see it happening faster and faster as each decade goes by.

MARY NALL

Marble Hill