‘Out of control’
Dear Editor:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer once penned: “The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.”
I would like to ask Dushan Divjak (‘Not helpful,’ May 21), what kind of world are we leaving to our children? I have said in earlier letters that it is very easy to criticize; it is quite another thing to propose solutions to the problems being criticized.
My argument is not about the bloated “Sunshine List,” my argument is about the bloated bureaucracy being supported by our tax dollars. What I find morally reprehensible is the fact that by not addressing our deficit and by extension our debt, we are choosing to tax a population that has absolutely no say about the taxation they will be facing. I am referring to our children.
Bureaucracy is like medicine. Just the right amount of medicine will do its job properly, too much and it very quickly becomes dangerous. Similarly, a bureaucracy in just the right amount is sustainable, and can dynamically contribute to the well being of our society. When bureaucracies become self-perpetuating monoliths with little or no accountability and require more resources than a reasonably taxed population can sustain, then we have a serious problem on our hands.
One of the most subtle yet obvious symptoms of an out-of-control bureaucracy is Divjak’s obvious thorn: inflation. Other indicators are ever-increasing costs to our public services with ever decreasing services.
I pity the unfortunate children who have to endure our public education, or the person/family without a doctor, or an individual requiring non emergency police assistance. The standard response to the lack of services is overwork, but how much of that work is actually productive, and how much is the result of a non-productive bureaucratic infrastructure which is more intent on self preservation than what it is actually paid to do?
The solution is obvious: introduce competition. Parents are given the right to determine how the funds to educate their children will be allocated. Introduce parallel public and private health care, along with allowing more doctors to be educated. Allow individuals the right to defend themselves with no fear of repercussion.
Wayne Baker,
Wellington North