When we complain about another person's behavior, we are referring to that person's inability to conduct themselves in a reasonably civil manner. We are actually saying that that person doesn't discipline themselves properly, or better yet, they just don't govern themselves well. I believe that this type of self-government is what the founders of our country had in mind when they originally tried to establish a system of law for America. They envisioned an ideal society comprised of self-governing individuals, whose system of laws would serve to the benefit of everyone by limiting potential conflicts of interest. Self control, self government, would be the ultimate expression of their freedom.

   This is why a lack  of seriousness about self government is so hard to comprehend. When Walter Williams writes about a population hoax (Another View, The Advocate, 6/5/17), he gives a definition of overpopulation as "when an ecological footprint of a human population in a given geographical location exceeds the carrying capacity of the place occupied by that group." Then he proceeds to give the population densities of Hong Kong, Congo, Somalia, and Singapore, with numbers that are quite probably correct for those areas. He launches from here into a heap of conclusions about how horrible are the U.N. programs based on population moderation.

   Please notice that not once does he mention anything about the carrying capacity of those locations. He leaves out half of each equation. He gives us fractions that have numerators but no denominators. It's an utterly wrong approach to the problems of overpopulation. It's quite incomprehensible when one considers that Mr. Williams, who serves as a member of the elite when it comes to the formation of public opinion because he is a regular contributor to the editorial pages of this newspaper, doesn't possess the self discipline required to address a real problem head on. It seems to be a deliberate hoax. He wants to create a hoax about population, to the effect that we need more people in the world. As if more people is the solution to our inability to govern ourselves better.

   He confirms as much when he states that "The greatest threat to mankind's prosperity is government, not population growth." No, Mr. Williams, the greatest threat to mankind's prosperity is a lack of government- especially the lack of self government by members of society's elite.