by Felt Lair

In addition to the sexual connotations of the header the government's actions on the tobacco front have implications on more serious and practical levels.

Numerous writers, speakers and researchers are remarking on the dissipation of American trust in government and democracy these days. More and more, people are said to consider the government as the single greatest threat facing the country -- ahead of big labor and big business.

One poll indicated that only about 20% of the public trusts government. When it comes to the politicians who run the government the level of distrust runs much higher. In the popular view politicians are corrupt and untrustworthy, ranking below lawyers but above used-car salesmen!

This overwhelming disenchantment cannot be laid at the feet of the anti-smoking crusaders. In fact, what with all the encouragement, reinforcement and funding they get from government sources (your tax dollars at work), they are most likely among the staunchest supporters of current government practices.

But, to the extent that the truth surfaces about government complicity in the despicable activities launched against not only the tobacco industry as such, but against a sizable (although declining) proportion of its citizens, such distrust will only increase.

By participating in malicious propaganda, dubious research and faulty science as well as in its enormous funding of the attack on tobacco through various of its agencies, government shows once more that it is not deserving of respect and trust.

Our legislators certainly dropped several points in the minds of veterans when they tried to scam them out of well-earned VA health benefits. Many of these are the very men who are often held up as the nation's saviors for their efforts in World War II. To spit in their faces with such a move is reprehensible. Fortunately that particular threat wasn't actualized.

However, if the current philosophy prevails and further personal liberties are destroyed or effectively limited (and the move is already underway) the time will come when an effective backlash will occur at the ballot box if nowhere else.

But this isn't the only way our government is demeaning itself. Should the current trend continue and a smoke-free society were to be realized the government would be hitting itself where it really hurts -- in the pocketbook.

According to R.J. Reynolds (and who should have more accurate figures on this than a tobacco company?), the excise taxes on cigarettes raked in a total of $13,226,759,000 in 1997. This represents sub-totals of $7,306,959,000 on the state level, $5,734,393,000 in federal revenues and $176,407.000 on the local level.

For lawmakers who are constantly trying to raise taxes, this represents quite a debit. If it came to pass it would only mean a comparable increase in your taxes in some other area. Not only that, when it comes to tobacco the federal government has a conflict of interest. While trying to convince the public that tobacco is deadly and smokers are "serial killers," federal crop insurance subsidies to tobacco growers add up to approximately $30 million per year.

On the whole, our government looks more and more as if it is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia; the tobacco industry is killing people... but we'll support them in doing it. Could it be that they are doing so to keep the industry on its feet and keep the excise money rolling in?

If that's the case our "leaders" (pardon the expression) are even more duplicitous than we thought. It looks more and more like the two party system is in mental, moral and ethical decline and changing horses in mid-stream is the only hope.

So where is a third party that can deliver us from these crackpots? Really deliver us?