Squeezin’ the Juice
by SVEA SAUER

I think we need a Queen. The only service people seem to require of their government is for the president to show up in times of trouble and make comforting remarks. He is also useful as a scapegoat. As for his relation to government, no one wants government – or so they say, except in emergencies like oil spills.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, now retired, has adopted a cause to which she is devoted and one I think is admirable. She wants civics taught in school again. For a people  who are so naive they think we can function without government, I think it is high time they learned the functions of the government designed for us.

It is not that I object to Queens. Presidents of the modern age need all the help they can get keeping up with the demands made on their time just to appear in public here and abroad. The demands made on their time are inhuman. An official Queen could be available not only for ordinary social occasions but for emergencies, leaving the president free to take care of business.

Business, in his case, is trying to function within a framework designed for citizens but run by politicians for the benefit of crooks who are abetted by voters who understand nothing.

Unfortunately, teaching civics in school may make matters worse because the schools’ teachers are prohibited from using accurate text books and may  themselves never have had the benefit of a class in civics. This was true even when civics was taught in all schools.

I vividly remember one class in which the teacher assured us that  immigrants from northern Europe were welcome, but not immigrants from southern Europe. Two Italian boys in the class did not seem to take offense but I, whose antecedents were Swedish, blushed for them. And so it has always been. We color government with our own brush.

The present fashion is to cry “Socialism!” at the first hint that government is trying, however futilely, to practice the Golden Rule; however, the only popular item in the budget is money set aside for war (so long as other people volunteer and so long as taxes are not levied to support it).

The  president is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t by a party determined to seize power so they can do nothing. So much for their education in civics.

It is true we do not need government if we are determined to live in chaos but government is only a word for consent of the governed, not refusal to be governed. People power sounds great until the gibbet goes up and the tumbrils roll. Understanding the government we have should be taught in schools using accurate text books. That may not be possible in a few years if we continue to publish slanted text books and preach lies.

By then, if we are lucky, we may have a Queen and not a dictator.

sveasauer@gmail.com