Edward Achorn, quick on the uptake of Tea Party talking points, quotes Benjamin Franklin in his most recent missive warning Rhode Islanders (in Achorn’s own words) of “special interests who would use the system to loot their fellow citizens” (“California, here we come?” June 2). The irony, of course, is that Franklin clearly believed in the obligation of citizens, especially those who have benefited the most, to the “Welfare of the Publick”:

“All the property that is necessary to a Man, for the Conservation of the Individual and the Propagation of the Species, is his natural Right, which none can justly deprive him of: But all Property superfluous to such purposes is the Property of the Publick, who, by their Laws, have created it, and who may therefore by other laws dispose of it, whenever the Welfare of the Publick shall demand such Disposition. He that does not like civil Society on these Terms, let him retire and live among Savages. He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.” (Letter to Robert Morris, Dec. 25, 1783)

No, the government doesn’t provide “goods and services free of charge”: There’s a price we pay to live in a wonderful republic. If Mr. Achorn doesn’t like it, let him retire and live among Savages!

RUSSELL CONWAY

Providence