The problem was discussed at length during the Federal Convention of 1787 when the U.S. Constitution was negotiated. It boiled down to this --- either the Southern States seceded immediately from the fragile, bankrupt Confederation, or they got to keep their slaves for the time being, perhaps 50 years. That was the deadlock that kept 55 men locked in a room for two scorching hot months in Philadelphia that summer.

Ultimately, Northern and Southern states compromised, limiting slavery to a complicated formula. Several delegates, disgusted with the result, predicted that this obvious mockery of the Declaration ("We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...") would be punished by divine retribution. It was. The Civil War killed and injured one million citizens, destroyed the South, and bankrupted the North. Our nation's bloodiest war cost five times the G.N.P. in 1860. It was economically equivalent to fighting World War II twice. Worse: the U.S. Civil War did not end racism as an American social problem.

Why did we fight such a costly war? Because slavery was wrong. It had to end.

Nobody wanted to fight the Civil War. Northern generals practically refused to fight, did everything they could to avoid it. The war went nowhere for a year and Lincoln had to improvise, picking new generals at random, until he found men of good will who could fight and win. A similar scenario was played out in World War II. George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower stalled for two years, preparing, preparing. Other men like Patton led by example in combat and won the war against Nazi Germany.

Why all this talk about war? War with who? Why war?

Look at your prisons. Look at your cities. Look at the crass commercial culture on TV. That's why war. In the next few years, the federal government is going to have to admit that they are financially upside-down. Instead of saving or investing your Social Security and Medicare trust funds, the U.S. Treasury has been depositing I.O.U.'s in your name. In 2015, both programs will be bankrupt and the social safety net will collapse. There's no way to cure this problem, because the government promised too much to too many. "Growing the economy" is merely a temporary fix that raises the cost of living. The net effect will still be confiscatory.

There will be private medical care for a few, rationing and delay for the many. Increased wealth for a few, more hardship for the many, falling hardest on racial minorities (as usual). This highly predictable disaster is manifestly unjust, wrong, and must be preempted if possible by men of good will, acting privately, without consulting their neighbors or standing for elected office. We already tried that. Older and wiser now, some of us concluded that the internet offers an opportunity to redecorate the future, because government cannot right the sins of government.

But let's suppose Dr. Bob is right. Perhaps the internet, like everything else, is "self-limiting." It's entirely possible that a quiet revolution is taking place under our electronic noses --- and no one will bother to note that a few stray cats are missing, no longer U.S. taxpayers. Certainly, nothing will change immediately, as far as Uncle Rudy and Aunt Hillary are concerned. They'll keep making speeches on TV, promising too much to too many (as usual).