Our hearts and minds have been imbued with moral relativism by today’s TV programs that mostly feature amoral characters living in a world where there is no “good” or “bad,” only different. We are oblivious to pervasive and subtle deception and accept the premise that the actions of the government are truthful, legitimate and in our best interest. We have grown accustomed to the inherent corruption and immorality of government coercion, control and micromanagement of our lives.
Consider the following: we have been led to believe Social Security contributions made by you and your employer are in a trust fund, a so-called “lock box.” If you die before you are eligible to collect, do you ever wonder what happens to all that money?
We are told a “tax cut” is an expenditure which implies that all wealth belongs to the government to dispose of as it wishes; whose money is it anyway? In the name of “fairness,” the government caps and limits incomes, penalizes affluence and prosperity while rewarding the less productive with cell phones, food stamps and myriad subsidies. Are we not nurturing mediocrity?
We lack heroes and a venue where truth prevails, where liars, cheaters and frauds are unmasked, where the guilty face justice and even pay a fine, where “old fashioned values” still matter. These were the elements of TV programs of yesteryear where “good” trumped “bad,” where truth, justice and the American way were secured by the likes of Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Perry Mason, Superman, etc.
Fortunately, there is still one television courtroom program featuring an intrepid arbiter who possesses an uncanny ability to detect liars and frauds and whose inimitable merciless outbursts of moral indignation directed at those who cheat, defraud and lie has earned the respect and admiration of millions of viewers. If only we could summon members of Congress to this court.
We no longer have the Lone Ranger, but we do have Judge Judy.
Ed Konecnik
Flushing
