This will come as a chilling dash of cold water for those who bask under the illusion that they can rely on governmental authorities to keep them safe and secure. This account, which pierces that myth and reveals the truth behind the curtain, comes from Don Kates,a distinguished civil liberties attorney and one of the nation's preeminent second amendment scholars:
We see it on the news virtually every night: yet another in an endless succession of colossal mistakes by "government" agencies, often with horrendously tragic results. Innumerable examples can be cited from events in the national news: 9/11; the Enron and other major business scandals; etc.
But I want to discuss a micro-example that occurred in a city near me. In 9/2001 a 12 year old Oregon girl named Ashley Pond reported to a teacher [Linda Virden] that she was the subject of on-going sexual assaults by an adult neighbor named Ward Weaver. The matter was immediately reported by the horrified teacher to the so-called Oregon Department of Child Protective Services. When nothing was done the teacher reported it twice more, and Ashley's mother also reported it three separate times. Nothing happened because in each instance the matter was referred to the same state employee who did not think it worth referring to the local police, though the agency regulations required that all such matters be so referred.
But this really made no difference for when Ashley disappeared the police belatedly were informed, but did nothing. Nor did they bring Weaver under serious scrutiny six weeks later when another girl [Miranda Gaddis, 13] disappeared from the apartment building in which Ashley had lived. Weaver was only arrested when a naked young woman he had raped and tried to murder escaped from his house and flagged down a passing car. At that point a belated search of Weaver's rented premises uncovered both girls' bodies.
There ensued an orgy of false denials and finger pointing among the various "government" agencies involved. Eventually the head of the state agency took the unusual step of actually admitting that its employee was at fault. At the same time he announced multiple new regulations for handling such reports in the future. These will prove no more effective than the previous police report regulation which the agency employee violated.
I place quotation marks around "government" because it is a fundamentally false concept. It disguises from us the truth about the endless succession of colossal public agency mistakes reported in newscasts virtually every night. The truth is that there is no such thing as "government." There are only the tens, scores, or even hundreds or thousands of people employed by agencies. Like people in general, these employees are sometimes corrupt and many are lazy, and all are fallible.
Remember Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, not just as little girls who never got to grow up, but as condign examples. People who place faith in "government" are instead just relying on other people disguised by a name and training regime that sometimes make them more reliable, and sometimes less. The more vital the interests you abandon to the sole protection of government, the nearer you are to the fate of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis.
But I want to discuss a micro-example that occurred in a city near me. In 9/2001 a 12 year old Oregon girl named Ashley Pond reported to a teacher [Linda Virden] that she was the subject of on-going sexual assaults by an adult neighbor named Ward Weaver. The matter was immediately reported by the horrified teacher to the so-called Oregon Department of Child Protective Services. When nothing was done the teacher reported it twice more, and Ashley's mother also reported it three separate times. Nothing happened because in each instance the matter was referred to the same state employee who did not think it worth referring to the local police, though the agency regulations required that all such matters be so referred.
But this really made no difference for when Ashley disappeared the police belatedly were informed, but did nothing. Nor did they bring Weaver under serious scrutiny six weeks later when another girl [Miranda Gaddis, 13] disappeared from the apartment building in which Ashley had lived. Weaver was only arrested when a naked young woman he had raped and tried to murder escaped from his house and flagged down a passing car. At that point a belated search of Weaver's rented premises uncovered both girls' bodies.
There ensued an orgy of false denials and finger pointing among the various "government" agencies involved. Eventually the head of the state agency took the unusual step of actually admitting that its employee was at fault. At the same time he announced multiple new regulations for handling such reports in the future. These will prove no more effective than the previous police report regulation which the agency employee violated.
I place quotation marks around "government" because it is a fundamentally false concept. It disguises from us the truth about the endless succession of colossal public agency mistakes reported in newscasts virtually every night. The truth is that there is no such thing as "government." There are only the tens, scores, or even hundreds or thousands of people employed by agencies. Like people in general, these employees are sometimes corrupt and many are lazy, and all are fallible.
Remember Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis, not just as little girls who never got to grow up, but as condign examples. People who place faith in "government" are instead just relying on other people disguised by a name and training regime that sometimes make them more reliable, and sometimes less. The more vital the interests you abandon to the sole protection of government, the nearer you are to the fate of Ashley Pond and Miranda Gaddis.
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