Solve problems to avoid ‘misery and vice’

Problems facing us today encompass a broad spectrum, including: the faltering economy, pressing environmental issues, the need for educational reform and affordable health care, and a myriad moral and ethical concerns.

A growing segment of the population seems to believe that a priority should be placed on resolving moral and ethical issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriages, to their satisfaction. These people tend to be single- issue voters.

I contend that placing a priority on solving our economic, environmental, educational and health care difficulties will result in an improved social and cultural condition in which moral and ethical problems become less prevalent and more amenable to resolution.

If economic, environmental, educational and health care cost issues are not adequately addressed, we are predisposing much of our population to become malnourished, unwell and uneducated. This describes the plight of peoples in many Third World countries. These countries are frequently plagued with corruption, disease, a powerful criminal element and all manner of vice. The link between poverty and crime is well established in our own country.

A famous English economist, Thomas Malthus, suggested long ago that a country unable or unwilling to provide for the basic needs of its citizenry will be afflicted by “misery and vice.”

Robert J. Boes

Ely