After a pause, she asked me if I was surprised the government had allowed such information to be released.  My response was that I didn’t know if the government had any control over that information or not, and that I couldn’t imagine why any government anywhere would suppress such good news.  Apparently, she sensed I thought it was a dumb question, as she backed off.

Since then, I continue to marvel at this notion that “the government,” whatever that means, would hide such news as a cure for AIDS.  Would it be because they were concerned people would no longer practice “safe sex?”  Is it because they want to make people “disappear” by claiming they were infected when they were not?  What would be the motive of this evil government?

Again, I trace this notion back to the writings of the best-selling writer, Ayn Rand, that refugee from the Communists following the Russian Revolution who popularized the notion of government as evil in her classic books, Atlas Shrugged and Fountainhead.

I love Ronald Reagan, who famously said “government is not the solution, government is the problem.”  But, he didn’t say the government is evil and incompetent.  He said it was stupid and incompetent.  Think about it — that is a huge difference.  Motive matters!

Have government bureaucrats ever lied to us?  Of course, they have!  But, so have businessmen and clergymen.  Has the government lied to us enough that we should fret about black helicopters landing in your front yard?  If you’re an Ayn Rand disciple, you might worry all night.  However, I’m an Ayn Rand student and sleep like a baby!

A paranoid barber with a razor in her hand may not be good company.  Anybody know a good barber?