Re: “Don’t try to justify social injustice,” letter, Aug. 30.
The letter-writer complained of “specious rationalizations” then proceeded to speciously rationalize. Victoria residents, for the most part, work hard and responsibly, facing heavy taxation from all levels of government, at the same time paying substantial mortgages or rent, leaving them just a bit to dutifully raise their families. To suggest these are a “fortunate few” is pathetic naked propaganda.
Upholding democratically established laws is the basis of a civilized society. Poverty is not being criminalized in Victoria; individuals who steal, threaten, trespass, litter and destroy public property, individually or collectively criminalize themselves. The suggestion that politicians “use rule of law to protect privilege and profit” is nonsense . Victoria’s responsible (ah yes, that word) citizens work to earn a home and to live safely in a clean, attractive, well-run city; they are the vast majority, not some jealously imagined “fortunate few.” It is indeed the task of politicians and courts to defend this against those who flout and ignore the law.
The real solution is to give more effective aid to those who truly seek work and who take responsible control over their own lives. Also, we should do much more for those with mental illness, even when self-inflicted with drugs; however, Victoria’s taxpayers do not owe housing and accommodation to any and every individual who drifts into town imagining some “specious” right to be housed and kept at the working citizens’ expense.
Tony Keble
Victoria
