Mongoose

Nobody asked but …

Does one believe that one can judge the behavior of another human, then go to ask a third party to help you make the other do what one thinks is right?  Of course not.  Why then is the world full of unforeseen consequences stemming from attempting to force others to do that which they would not otherwise do.

In Hawaii, in the late 19th Century, Mongooses were imported to rid the sugar cane fields of rats.  Now the mongooses are overwhelming, reducing populations of birds and turtles, and domestic cats!

The mongoose tale is still a bit exotic, but the story is most often demonstrated where government is the mongoose.

  • You believe, for instance, that illegal immigrants are a problem, so you ask the government to keep your population up to standards.  The results, however, after decades of trying socially to engineer, are illegal immigrants AND too much government.
  • You believe, for instance, that pollution is a problem, so you ask the government to keep your environment clean.  The results, however, after decades of trying environmentally to engineer, are a dirty environment AND too much government.
  • You believe, for instance, that political corruption is a problem, so you ask the government to keep itself clean.  The results, however, after decades of trying politically to engineer, are dirty politics AND too much government.

The “for instance”‘s go on and on.

— Kilgore Forelle

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