6 - Wednesday, Seplember 21, 1994 - North Shore News mati i er Mm Re tga tent ee OW MY GOSH! LIMITE alton wpigiiy A eh $5 es eeste HOO AG Lying: Leelee iret tt lilht tdi 7 TRAFFIC ACCIDENT? GANG FIGHT?... BEAR ATIACK?... BLACKBERRY PICKING. Crud control ORTH VANCOUVER District Coun. Ernie Crist hits the target dead centre with his concerns over televised vio- lence. _ Its bad for our children, and it’s bad for our scciety. Common sense tells those who are blessed with it that a steady diet of blood and guts, violent behavior, appalling manners, gutter language and disrespect for human life and social values as presented by the oddballs of Hollywood is bad for the brain. They cali it entertainment. But a lot of other people call it crud, in capital letters. And the crud is becoming evermore insidious and evermore dangerous. When 11-year-old children like Robert “Yummy” Sandifer become executioner and executed as part of life in big city America, we should all be getting more than concerned. Coun. Crist has sounded the initial call to arms focally. His recent motion that North Vancouver District Council oppose television violence in the form of entertainment, that federal and provincial governments be requested to enact legislation prohibiting TV violence and that 2 letter asking for support for the action be sent to all B.C. municipalities, MLAs and MPs is a sound expression of frustration and a good way to draw attention to the issue of televi- sion violence. But it is wishful thinking to believe that censorship will ultimately be successful, espe- cially in the modern world of fibre optic com- munication links. More effective would be family control] of how much violence is piped into each home and the re-establishment of some positive val- ues and mutual respect in our homes. LETTER OF THE DAY The real costs of more gun control Dear Editor: Ray Eagle, representing the Coalition for Gun Control, derided our MP for questioning the cost of additional gun contro! rneasures. All Canadians fed up with tax levels have the right to ask those who want more government inter- vention and higher taxes to state their case very clearly. How much would the register- ing of six million Canadian guns and the maintaining of an ongoing up-to-date registry cost? Secondly, would the fact that a gun is registered subdue the pas- sion of an enraged person who Publisher Managing Editor . Associate Editor. Peter Speck Timothy Renshaw Noel Wright Linda Stewart wanted to kill a member of his farnily? The accounts of domestic killings indicate that killers grab whatever is handiest: an axe, knife, gun, club or their own booted foot. The onus is on Mr. Eagle to explain why, when all guns are tegistered, the killer would stay his hand (or foot). Many think that even if such a costly program were implemented, as Eagle requests, domestic vio- lence would not subside. Why don’t Eagie and his associ- ates try to get the law to enforce the existing gun controls and to get Dispiay Advertising 980-0571 986-6222 Fax 985-2131 Classified Advertising Newsroom Distribution Real Estate Advertising 985-6992 Subscriptions Administration the judiciary to impose strong deterrent penatties on anyone using a gun in the execution of a crime? As an example, the North Shore News recently reported that a man with an ilfcgal, unregistered, concealed handgun used it to threaten a North Vancouver woman. In my view the book should have been thrown at him; instead he got a year’s probation. That’s how not to make our existing gun control laws work. Neil Thompson West Vancouver 986-1337 986-1337 985-9227 985-2131 North Shore News, founded in 1969 as an independent suburban newspaper and qualified under Schedule 111, Paragraph 111 of the Excise Tax Act. is published each Wednesday, Friday and Sunday by North Shore Free Press Ltd. and distributed to every door on the North Shore. Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 0087238. Mailing rates available on r2quest. Submissions are welcome hut we cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited material including manuscripts and pictures which should be accompanied by a stamped, addressed envelope. V7M 2H4 1139 Lonsdale Avenue : = North Vancouver 8.C. a North Shore Managed MEMBER %CNA & [——— i rasaowess cewes SDA DIVISION 61,582 (average circulation, Wednesday, Friday & Sunday) Entire contents © 1994 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Democrats not always pillars of democracy THESE DAYS everyone bows down to the god of “democracy.” What are we trying to do in Haiti? “Restore democracy.” What’s wrong in Russia? A Jack of “democratic vaJues.” What’s wrong with Saddam Hussein or Mohammed Aidid? They’re not “democ- ratic.” By John Robson Contributing Writer So monotonous is this chant that it may scem a stupid or perverse question to ask: what’s so great about democracy? It might seem even stupider to ask: what is democracy? But since another election may soon be upon us, this is a good time to review the basics. And it turns out that the vast consensus on the desirability of democracy actually conceals the uncasy cohabitation of two very different views. One of these is that democracy is a means to the end of limited government, of free action subject only to a prohibition on force and fraud. The other view is that democra- cy is a means to harness the power of the government in pursuit of whatever the current majority cur- rently wants. These are quite separate, even antithetical ideas —- compare the Anglo-American revolutions of {688 and 1776 versus the French and Soviet revolutions. Tie former view is based on the idea that, in Thomas Sowell’s words, “reality is tricky.” And if you believe that, if you understand that everyone will not, and cannot, have everything they want all-the time, then you should want a soci- ety that lets everyone follow his or her inner light. In such a society yeu have the fundamental right to be left alone. Everything else you have to get the old-fashioned way, by earning it. That’s what the good kind of democracy is all about — protect- ing that arrangement. The latter view is based on the idea that whoever assembles the biggest gang can, without qualms, help themselves to other people’s possessions and divvy them up among their supporters. There shall be no place for dis- sent, active or passive. For govern- ment, however chosen, continues to be distinguished not by its superior motivations but by its ability to usc force to do whatever it is attempt- ing to do. This is why H.L. Mencken described elections as advance auctions in stolen goods. It’s why opponents of Charlottetown got branded “ene- mies of Canada,” and why oppo- nents of Robespierre had attitude adjustment sessions with Dr. Guillotine. This utopian, majoritarian, col- lectivist concept of democracy is . profoundly offensive to human lib- erty. For as Mencken properly sug- gested, it is no consolation that one is now robbed or otherwise oppressed by a much larger number of people than used to be the case. So when someone praises democracy, you must ask whether this means we vote on who shall be the referee and review his or her performance regularly, or whether we vote on who shall win the game. You must ask whether democra- cy exists to protect fundamental tights or to redefine them when and as the majority considers expedient. You must ask whether slavery in the Old South was a legitimate institution because a majority of the inhabitants would have voted for it if given the choice. You must ask whether Communist rule in Poland ceases tu be a violation of fundamental rights if a majority votes for it. Whether Hitler was any tess vile for enjoy- ing substantial public support. Whether substantia! support in Iraq for the invasion of Kuwait had any bearing on its moral status. You must ask whether the prin- 66 You must ask whether the principal purpose of elections is to protect our life, liberty and property —or to decide what we should steal from whom, and when and where and how. 99 cipal purpose of elections is to pro- tect our life, liberty and property — or to decide what we should steal from whom, and when and where and how. In Parliament of Whores PJ. O’ Rourke wrote that in the U.S. today, “The whole idea of our gov- ernment is this: If enough people get together and act in concert, they can take something and not pay for it.” When someone praises democ- tacy — or a measure as “democrat- ic”— ask if that is what they mean by the term. If it is, ask them to leave. Aad when they have, count your spoons. A majority of them may have voted in favor of redistribu- tion. eee CIRCLE IT RED: Many happy returns of Saturday, Sept. 24, to West Van’s Peter Wardell ... And the same again Sunday, Sept. 25, to North Van's Wally Mulligan. Dr. John Robson is policy ana- lyst of the Fraser Institute, a right- wing economic think-tank based in Vancouver. NOEL WRIGHT ON VACATION