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Save me from myself

© Beth Skinner

While working on a book review of Garry Wills' A Necessary Evil : A History of American Distrust of Government for Ideas on Liberty (formerly The Freeman) my mind began to wander. (Not an infrequent problem unfortunately.) Wills' underlying theme throughout is the "history" of American distrust of government. Among other problems with the book I think Wills' basic contention is flawed. It is my assertion that Americans, in general, do not distrust the government.

Each side has their pet projects, which they want government to protect. Conservatives often claim they want the government out of their lives but when it comes to outlawing abortion or placing the Ten Commandments in schools they whole-heartedly support government intervention. On the other side of the spectrum, liberals want the government to keep its mitts out of their marijuana patches but when it comes to hate speech or pornography then they too whole-heartedly embrace government intervention.

There are obviously many different examples I could name where Americans want the government to intervene and help them along, but one issue in particular that strikes my fancy is firearms.

The Colorado legislature has been working overtime cranking out the gun-related post-Columbine legislation. Robyn Anderson, the twit who purchased guns for killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold is an especially telling example of someone who wants the government to intervene in her life and keep her from doing stupid things.

She testified before the legislature and said, "I would not have bought a gun for Eric and Dylan if I had to give any personal information or submit to any kind of check at all. I think it was clear to the sellers that the guns were for Eric and Dylan. They were the ones asking all the questions and handling the guns. When I look back at it, I think I was kind of naive. I wish a law requiring background checks had been in effect at the time. I don't know if Eric and Dylan would have been able to get guns from another source, but I would not have helped them. It was too easy. I wish it had been more difficult. I wouldn't have helped them buy the guns if I had faced a background check." In other words it wasn't her fault, it was Eric & Dylan's fault; it was the gun sellers fault; and more importantly it was the fault of the government which, basically as she admitted made it too easy for her to be a complete idiot.

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