In a recent VOP Robert G. Clarke states, “In Reality Land, we know that there are only two basic things required of government. They are to protect the citizen and punish the evildoer.” This led me to wonder, who plans and builds the roads that our citizens and businesses use?

That, in turn, brought me to consider our air traffic control system. But then I realized that Mr. Clarke might logically include this under the umbrella of the government’s duty to “protect” the citizen. Because without the air traffic control system, our flying citizenry might be in danger of dying from air collisions.

But then I became mired in the inherent contradiction: if the government is supposed to protect citizens from death by flying, why wouldn’t it also want to protect them from death by heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.? Granted, my death from cancer might eventually be unavoidable, but with treatment I might have a reprieve of 10 or 20 years, giving me more time for the pursuit of happiness.

I’d like to think all our lives, and especially the lives of our children, are as worth protecting as that of the flying population. I think a nation as great as the United States can find a way to do it. And as a taxpayer, I expect them to do so, just as I expect them to build roads and maintain safety in the skies.

John Swartz

Racine