Part 2 of 2 for reply cont'd Politics attracts immature individuals who think they are more wise and charitable than everyone else, apparently because they can take other people's money and decide what is the most charitable use of it. More and more ways are devised to enforce their concept of charity on the herd they are riding. The governed people find ways to go around their machinations, and in return, the government, with the 'best of intentions' becomes more ruthless and tyrannical in enforcing the beneficent idealistic vision of the anointed intelligentsia. This is not different than what is done by the most benign of patriarchal or matriarchal monarchies, or the most malevolent of national socialist or international socialists. They are not different in substance only in name and degree, and whether it is one individual or a committee. If you look at the finances of individuals who most firmly believe that this is the purpose of government, they give very little of their own money, and are willing to use every loophole, legal and often illegal to avoid giving their own money for public investments and government charities. Why are so many of the current administration are found to be tax cheats? Isn't the head of the House Ways and Means Committee pleading ignorance of the tax law when caught hiding rental properties in the Caribbean pretty preposterous? Or the Treasury Secretary pretending that he didn't really understand his responsibilities under the tax code? Would you care to compare the charitable records of VP Biden vs VP Cheney? The founders of the United States government studied European and Middle Eastern history from the time before Rome and Greece, and understood that once people start giving such powers to the government, the government tends to become an all-powerful, usurper of freedoms from the people. This increasing utilization of government power to enforce charity, bestow favor, and mete out social justice is what Hayek called "The Road to Serfdom." Socialism is reviled not because of "The Red Scare" but because many people understand that it ends, inevitably, in the most horrendous tyrannies. Every time, it begins with people saying we are different than anyone who tried it in the past, and smarter, and kinder and less corrupt, and so on. But it always ends the ame. Always. The founders of Communism, Marx and Engels admitted that if they succeeded the horrors of the French Revolution would be seen as a benign period when compared to their regime. They knew they would be labeled monsters and declared, "Once we have power, who cares?" For many who oppose Islam, that is part of the problem, Islam is the government enforced socialism of Sharia. I won't reply to this anymore, this is not a political discussion list. But you should know that many people don't buy your sophomoric cliches. Eric