Dear Editor:

The HST issue has been a thorn in our collective side not because it is an evil piece of legislation but because of its polarizing effect, and ultimately it is divisive for the wrong reasons.

The political, legal and economic angles have been covered extensively, and yet we are none the wiser.

The fight leading to the anti-HST campaign to recall the legislation and the pro-HST reaction to it would make Niccolo Machiavelli very proud indeed.

But then, what is politics without a Machiavellian angle to it?

And when you have the former premier, the Zalm, leading the attack on the entrenchment and the Gord defending the ramparts, you can rest assured that you will need all your wits with you to sort out the truth and half-truths out of what is being said.

Ultimately, though, the answer to our HST dilemma can be explained by our own humanity.

Tax in any form is repugnant because, in historical perspective, it alludes to a time when it was brutally exacted by an unscrupulous ruler.

Regardless, the current situation was brought about by the accusation that the Liberals lied about it, bringing it in just a few months after they won a majority.

Fair enough, except the fact that had they been transparent they would not have been elected. In this case, the anti-HST is right.

But what struck me after this is the demonstration of human frailty like gullibility, naivety and most damning selfishness.

It appalled me to witness educated people lapping up all the arguments put forth by the Zalm and his forces, ignoring the facts presented by the pros.

Did they really think that the government can move forward and satisfy the health and social programs people demanded without additional taxation?

How short-sighted can one be before he realizes that what he is advocating is simply selfishness?

People are living longer, our population is rising and demands to our system are ever increasing, and yet what we hear is increase the minimum wage, renegotiate current labour contracts to best reflect the rising standard of living, etc. - and, by implication, to hell with the future generation. Just don't raise our taxes.

Is this normal human behaviour?

I have always been of the impression that what separates us from the lower species is our ability to plan way ahead for our future generation and not just our ability to secure the present.

The fight over the HST among other things tells me otherwise.

We are willing to compromise the future of our children and their children after that in order to indulge ourselves on the present.

Come what may, we would rather indulge in empty rhetoric about how corrupt those who we voted to represent us are than finding a solution so that the future world would be as pleasant as what we are enjoying today.

No wonder we are our own worst enemy.

Norman Ostonal,

New Westminster