I saw a rerun of an old “Dennis the Menace” TV show the other day and was struck by the remarkable similarity between Dennis the Menace and the United States Congress. There was Dennis, all wide-eyed and astonished saying, “Gee, Mr. Wilson, you just stuck your foot right in that bucket of paint!” Mr. Wilson had, of course, just become the victim of unwanted and unneeded “help” as Dennis had moved the paint bucket closer to where Mr. Wilson was working.
Likewise, each of us is “helped” in countless ways each and every day by The Government. Much of this help is unwanted, most is unneeded and we’d all be better off with less of it. Certainly, our lives would be much less complicated for while most of us are unaware of the myriad ways in which we’ve been “helped” we do see the effects which tend to be obstructions to going about our business. But, like Dennis the Menace, The Government cannot see the connection between their prior actions and the resulting catastrophes. (“You should be more careful, Mr. Wilson!”) The help continues unabated.
So Dennis grows up and goes off to congress where, remembering the plight of “poor ol’ Mister Wilson” he drafts Federal Paint Can Closure Standards. And, while he’s at it, banning paint roller trays. (“There’s an accident waiting to happen!”) And the Mr. Wilsons of the country are saddled with further petty nuisances complicating their lives.
Government is forever meddling and tinkering, trying to make things better for the Mr. Wilsons but succeeding only in botching things up. Name one of “society’s” ills and it’s a better than even money bet that if the government didn’t create the problem themselves, they’re at the very least making it worse. All the while earnestly believing that they’re “helping” we-the-people go about the arduous business of living our lives.
Eventually, after years of tinkering, fine-tuning, regulating and generally wreaking havoc, Dennis retires from government “service” with a fat pension (paid for by the Mr. Wilsons) and shortly thereafter lands a lucrative contract as a consultant to the congressional Coating and Surface Preparation Containerage Standards Oversight Subcommittee.
And if all this seems strange consider this: it’s the Mr. Wilsons that keep electing the Dennis-the-Menaces.