On Troop Support

Robert Katz e-mailed me the following:

Support Our Troops, Why Not?

To Whom It May Concern:

I’m letting you know, whoever you are, that I support our troops—yours and mine. Now this is not at all a hard decision to make. As a matter of fact, there is nothing to decide at all. All things considered, I doubt whether you yourself guide any soldiers whatsoever. As for me, I say unequivocally that I direct no soldiers at all. So even if I’m wrong, and it turns out that you do manage one, a few, or even many soldiers, and since I regulate none and consider it unlikely that you’ll let me share command of any of yours, it follows that the number of troops that are under our common control is zero. In other words, we (you and I) don’t have any troops. So what difference can it make whether or not I support something that doesn’t exist?

It’s amazing how much politics and mathematics have in common. It’s equally amazing that an overwhelming number of private citizens don’t understand that first and foremost they are individuals who have not even an iota of significance to government machinations.

Share

7:34 pm on November 16, 2009