Many well-intended programs of our moribund social welfare system often breed dependency among recipients, reward immoral and irresponsible behavior, and punish innocent victims. The underlying principle on which the American criminal justice system rests is revenge. Over three thousand defendants await electrocution, hanging, shooting, or lethal injection on death row. Since most of us think the same way, behave the same way, vote the same, watch the same TV programs, and visit the same Internet web sites, we are easily jerked around by politicians who use expensive media campaigns to pull our strings. We call this democracy.
Nothing better illustrates our commitment to tit for tat than our foreign policy.
American demands for reparations by Germany after World War I played right into the hands of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s. World War II paved the way for the Cold War, since Stalin had unresolved issues with Germany and Japan. For nearly 40 years the most powerful nation in the world has been trying unsuccessfully to teach Fidel Castro a lesson. As one of the most violent nations in the world, our attraction to war and military solutions to problems is nothing new. Americans have always turned to violence when provoked by either domestic or foreign enemies.