Chats with Uncle Charley I

Sometimes I drop in to talk things over with Uncle Charley. He's pretty opinionated, and his opinions are certainly not in the mainstream of mid-American thought, but on the other hand, the perspective is frequently enlightening. Recently he read my blog article "No Help for Self-Inflicted Wounds", and he dropped by to give me his opinion. (He doesn't like to respond directly on the blog).

"There's nothing the matter with your idea of withholding payments for medical expenses for some half-wit driving his motorcycle into a bridge-abutment without wearing helmets and body armor. You just don't think it through far enough." His smile was a wicked one.

"What do you have in mind?" I asked, girding myself for something outrageous.

"Well, it's clear you think the human race might be better if the arrogant and stupid were allowed to take themselves out. But the number of people driving motorcycles AND who are able to become parents ain't that large. So, I got this thought..."

"And?"

"You probly want to set the bar a little lower. For instance, what if you issued all of the teenagers, and I mean every one of them, issued all of 'em a motorcycle and made it against the law to use a helmet?"

I was a little stunned, so my response was probably not very effective. "Huh?" I said.

"You want to get all them dummards to sort themselves out before they breed, you see. The ones who make it to 21 alive and mobile deserve to stay in the gene pool".

"Charley," I said. "You're not going to keep the smart ones alive, just the physically able and the lucky!"

"Yer stillnot thinking it through. The smart ones and the rebels will see that they need to disobey the law and wear their helmets anyway."

"I have some real doubts as to whether you could get that to pass," I answered.

"Course it wouldn't pass. Everybody thinks their own idiot child deserves to breed. Specially legislators. But it's always been survival of the fittest. We're not looking at fairness or punishment here, just self-weeding. And being lucky is also a good thing to keep in the human race".

"I wouldn't want to be the person who proposes your modest proposal," I said.

"Well, there's plenty of people who are dumb enough to do it, and we probly already elected them to something or other. Anyhow, good luck with your blog thingie".

"Thanks," I said. "Come by again".

"You can count on it".