I Know It When I See It…

At a time when so much of the news is about taxes and “unsustainable” government spending, I find myself in my usual position of being the odd man out who sees both the merits and the ridiculousness of both sides of the debate.

On the one hand (and being a “little guy” myself), it makes sense that those who can best bear it should carry a greater part of the “burden” when it comes to paying to keep our system running. But on the other hand, I can also understand the complaints from the “big guy” about the government’s attempt to charge him thousands of times more for the same (or less) services received from the government by we little guys – especially considering the government’s atrocious track record for delivering those services.

Now I could go on to produce a big old rant about the really shaky philosophical ground on which our whole system rests, but I really don’t feel like restating the things I’ve said so many times before to no avail. I would, however, like to relay some of the thoughts I always have when I think about these issues.

The first is a paraphrase of something an “all-organic and locally-grown-only” restaurant owner once answered when the host of a PBS food show asked why he didn’t take the usual “high prices for high clientele” approach to setting his prices: “Well, I can only eat one steak at a time.”

That statement has stuck with me ever since I heard it years ago, and I finally got around to doing a search for its origins awhile back. Amazingly enough, the only other person I could find that had said it was this guy:

Harvey Ball is recognized as the
earliest known designer of the smiley.

Ball’s son, Charles Ball is reported to have said his father never regretted not registering the copyright. Telegram & Gazette reported Charles Ball as saying “he was not a money-driven guy, he used to say, ‘Hey, I can only eat one steak at a time, drive one car at a time'”.

~ Harvey Ball – Wikipedia

The second thing that pops into my mind when I think about these issues may, at first glance, seem unrelated:

“I know it when I see it.”

~ Justice Potter Stewart on Jacobellis v. Ohio

But if this system, as it stands today, isn’t obscene, then I don’t know what is!

And finally, there is this:

And, of course, this:

I want ice water.

See more of my Random Ravings