Grampa Benedetto Sez

as my Italian grandfather Benedetto used to say to me when i was 5 "Giovanni: all public offices and services and authorities are cons. But they are cons of a sophisticated kind, not like ours; we promise money down the road. The authorities?....they promise an emotion. A feeling of pride. Yes! Pride! They say 'you will feel proud that you have helped.' They promise you an emotion. You know who they stole this idea from? The Church!! The Church promises you a delightful life as a corpse if you do what they say. the State offers you something here on earth; a good feeling. Us?....we have to make do with offering money and cash and gold bricks. Hey, whatever works, there's room for us all." I think i heard this speech a thousand times. I loved that old guy. But his breath smelled really bad.