Mr. Shedlock: I'm a strong supporter of the Fair Tax. Out of curiosity, do you see anything wrong with the Fair Tax? Granted, nothing is perfect, but in my opinion, this plan may be as close as we can get. Your thoughts? Thank you.

There's a link between laying on the sofa for hours on end, eating Doritos for dinner and watching Jerry Springer reruns with obesity (which leads to health problems). The government should totally ban Doritos. Or Jerry Springer. Or sofas.

He's being cynical, goshawk. He's saying that the government grants us the privilege of voting only because it doesn't make a difference, anyway.

I'm definitely not in favor of repealing the 19th amendment. Where would it eventually lead? I understand that many voters (on both the right and the left) are ignorant, but they all deserve a voice. If we start restricting those that can vote, things can always be restricted more, then more. Then more. Soon, we may find ourselves at the mercy of the whim of an elite handful.

Unfortunately, I'm coming around to this sort of cynicism, Mr. Studie.

Why are Republicans constantly screwing themselves?

Sorry. Mistake. I meant to say that "that would be 120-180 thousand people over five years, about 24-36 thousand per year."

Sorry. Mistake. That would be 120-180 thousand people over five years, about 24-36 thousand per year.

Still, even if only 1% of Americans, 3 million, own guns, and 4-6% of these gun owners claim that guns saved their life (or a life) once in the past five years, that would be 1.2 to 1.8 million people over five years, about 24-36 thousand per year. And that's a lot.

Sowell writes: "Surveys of American gun owners have found that 4 to 6 percent reported using a gun in self-defense within the previous five years. That is not a very high percentage but, in a country with 300 million people, that works out to hundreds of thousands of defensive uses of guns per year. " While I believe he's correct, that guns save more innocent lives than they take, the above paragraph seems a bit misleading. Sowell says that it's a survey of American gun owners. Later, he says that there are about 300 million people in the U.S. I don't think, though, that there are 300 million gun owners.