Libraries

I consider myself politically moderate with a right lean, but with some issues I get on a serious libertarian streak. I don't dislike government, but I think a lot of times it is too big. Recently, I have been thinking about whether I think public libraries are wasteful spending. Ann Arbor has a great library system. We watched five seasons of 24 for free using the library. I loved it, but sometimes I wondered why others should subsidize our obsession with Jack Bauer's torture methods. Tonight we went to Borders after having dinner at Potbelly's and I again was reminded of the library issue that I have been contemplating. As we were leaving the store, I decided to articulate my well-reasoned thoughts on libraries to Megan. She DESTROYED my argument. She argued that it really was not that expensive, and that it was money better spent than many other government programs. She asked whether I thought it would be good to have an illiterate population with no reading skills. She mentioned the Dark Ages as the last time society did not have access to books and pointed out that this worked out really well for society (note sarcasm). She also reminded me that I had benefited from libraries, and I remembered that my mom took me a lot when I was a kid. Certainly we could not have afforded to buy all of the Box Car Children and Hardy Boys books that I read. I owe my keen sleuthing skills to the public library system. I quickly realized my error, and that my idea was pretty dumb. Ok, really dumb. I also realized that in no less than five minutes, Megan had convinced me to migrate from library skeptic to staunch defender of the public library system. I will now forever defend public libraries:

"There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration."
-Andrew Carnegie

Thanks to my wife, I could not agree more.