Corrosion and Corrosion Control

When the greed of the Legislature oversteps the will of the People, and its understanding of the role of government, they may be voted out. What institution is more greedy than Government? What individual more ravenous than the Perpetual Candidate who is every politician? We are all subject to envy, covetousness, and greed (else why would we find them in the Ten Commandments?). The purpose of religion and of morality is to limit these corrosive influences on the mind and soul. The purpose of law is to control the destructive actions which spring therefrom. But not all the actions of ambition spring from Greed. One may grow wealthy through hard work, through persistence, or, indeed, by chance or lucky accident. (Many gullible purchasers of western land in the nineteenth century found themselves duped, in the discovery that their beautifully described property was oozing black sludge, which sludge, on the invention of the automobile, made them and their descendants wealthy beyond belief.) And one may be greedy as the Horse LeechБЂ™s Daughter, but, absent luck and crime (dealt with above), he may not gain wealth. Greed is a sin. Ambition is a virtue ...»