Greed, Government Mix All Too Well

The article, “O.C. Sinks to New Low With a Year of Scandals” (Dec. 30) completely misses the true reason for these scandals. Moses, 3,200 years ago had to write, “Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not covet . . . “ Larcenous opportunists will always be with us.

Government figures get away with ripping off the taxpayers because there are too many people who act like adult-aged children who consider government to be like some kind of trustworthy pseudo-parent. No matter how large or small the problem, these folks look only to the government for a solution and occasionally an opportunistic bureaucrat will take advantage of this blind trust.

If the state and federal governments were corporations, they would be savaged by the press, but usury by bureaucrats goes with the blessing of our fine, unbiased media. I guess they think it’s normal to have the average governmental program spend one-third of its money on solving the problem it was established to solve and two-thirds of your tax dollars spent on “administrative costs.”

As long as a sufficient number of voters, through a strange kind of convoluted logic, approve of every government program and government leader that makes them feel good, the larceny will continue.

JAMES TODHUNTER

Newport Beach