Academics, pundits and politicos have attempted to pontificate the virtues of the state. They purport that the government is there to protect us, defend us and help us whenever we need it. In other words, the government is all things to all men (think Santa Claus).
However, one conservative pundit, who has previously appeared to be a mouthpiece for the state, said it best Sunday on a panel discussion regarding the role of the government, which has been marred in scandals and crises.
“Government is not competent,” George Will told the panel. “What isn’t [the government] job these days?”
Will is absolutely correct in both comments. Government is incapable of doing anything correctly, except stealing money from taxpayers and engaging in war. As Milton Friedman observed years ago, if government were in charge of the Sahara desert there would be a shortage of sand.
Of course, the government has been in charge of various aspects in society, and now the United States is much worse off than it was. Look at education, look at healthcare, look at foreign policy, look at the economy.
The syndicated columnist went on a tirade against how big the government is today:
“Government is not competent. Frankly it’s not competent under Republicans or Democrats because it is always a monopoly and monopolies are not disciplined by market forces that are connected with reality. Teasing this segment, you asked ‘can we have faith in government?’ I think we have much more to fear from excessive faith in government than from too little faith in government. You asked ‘can we trust the government to do its job?’ What isn’t its job these days? I’ve just made a list. It’s fine-tuning the curriculum of our students k-12, monitoring sex on campuses, deciding how much ethanol we should put in our gas tanks, it’s designed our lightbulbs, and it’s worried sick over the name of the Washington football team. Now this is a government that doesn’t know when to stop.
“The distilled essence of progressivism is that government is benign, disinterested force, that’s false, and that it’s stuffed with expert, really gifted at doing things. Republicans do this also. Democrats do it on domestic policy. Republicans brought us nation building, regime change. A common theme is the excessive faith in the skills of government.”
Can anyone disagree with this sentiment?
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