Letter: When it comes to big, go business, not government

Today’s progressive liberals hail the attributes of big government and demonize the faults of big business. Conservatives mistrust big government and have little fear of big business.

Which makes more sense?

While big businesses have some ability to harm people, they overwhelmingly do more good than bad.

Have “Big Parma’s” drugs, for example, saved more lives than they’ve lost? Yes, by the millions. Little profit comes from drugs that don’t work.

Has the coal industry made the quality of American lives better or worse? Definitely better. Ask anyone who grew up without electricity or who lost his job when a coal mine closed.

Despite the Walton family’s “obscene” wealth, WalMart provides affordable goods to millions.

On the other hand, big government has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions. Besides the 42 million who died in Nazi hands, 62 million died under the Soviet Communist regime, 80 million under the Chinese Communist regime, 1.7 million in the killing fields of Communist Cambodia, untold millions in Communist North Korea, and countless others as victims of government-supported religious persecutions.

The misery of living subjects is incalculable. Big business has no power to arrest, imprison, torture, murder, or tax.

It doesn’t confiscate property or guns, or deny freedoms of speech and religion. It can’t make war or decide when a human life has no value to society.

The real danger lies not with corporate greed, but with unlimited government power over others and the privilege it brings to rulers and leaders.

Big government owning big business is disastrous. The percentage of citizens dependent on U.S. government subsidies, not counting Social Security or Medicare, has grown from 6% to 35% in 50 years.

Under Obamacare, it will escalate. Which deserves more fear?

Big business or big government? The facts speak for themselves.

Tags: opinion, letters, politics