PBS' expediency

Public Broadcasting Services does not accept notification that a licensed TV set has become unserviceable and that the set is being kept available for its inspection and disposal. Rather than taking the obvious step of checking this fact for itself,...

Public Broadcasting Services does not accept notification that a licensed TV set has become unserviceable and that the set is being kept available for its inspection and disposal. Rather than taking the obvious step of checking this fact for itself, PBS obliges the owner either to continue to pay the yearly licence for a useless TV set or else to go to the trouble and expense of submitting a sworn affidavit before being allowed to discontinue paying an annual licence fee for a useless TV set.

Christians are enjoined by Christ not to take oaths flippantly and a practising Catholic has every right to object to take oaths simply to spare PBS the small effort of checking facts for themselves. Moreover, this procedure is an inducement for the unscrupulous TV owner to avoid paying an annual TV fee by the expedient of taking a false oath that his TV set has become useless.

Could anything be more stupid, more mercenary, or more tyrannical for the honest citizen?

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