When one begins to participate in a fraud that involves taking money from taxpayers, one quickly finds that he is required to support all frauds that involve taking money from taxpayers. A public educator cannot very well talk about how much fraud there is in the freon installation racket, or the wetlands racket, or the foster child racket without being called upon the fact that he, too, is taking money by being involved in a field in which rackets abound.
As soon as anyone begins to take money from any government program, one is effectively prevented from criticizing any government program.
Why?
If a person profiting from one tax-confiscation racket criticizes another racket with similar funding, he will be reminded of the source of his own income, and of his own participation in the racket that provides it. Once this has happened to a person a couple of times, especially in public, he tends to keep his mouth shut.
This is the reason that most big businesses support liberal candidates for office. Once a business takes a little government money for a program, they quickly need more. Few things are as addictive as government money. It is understood by all concerned that the price for that money is keeping quiet about waste, mismanagement, and profiteering in other rackets, no matter how egregious and blatant they are.
So, Catholic Fundamentalists try to follow a simple rule: “Don’t take money from the government.” If we look at such funds as “unclean”, and we will, when we realize that it is, by nature “hush money” taken at gunpoint from our neighbors, the chances of saving our souls are vastly increased.
And, by obeying this “Eleventh Commandment”, which, to repeat, is “Don’t take money from the government.” we remain open to truths we are free to speak.
