The Blue Assumptions

posted at 10:23 am on January 26, 2010 by Doctor Zero
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I recently explained that I view collectivist politics, including what Americans call “liberalism,” is at war with the middle class. Of course, lots of middle-class people vote for liberal politicians. Conservatives sometimes wonder why people would constantly extend their support to an ideology so hostile to their interests, and distinguished by such a long record of broken promises and failed programs. Some of it is tribal – not everyone backs up their voting with intense meditation on political philosophy. There are people on both the Left and Right who simply vote the way their parents do, or view politics as a team sport, and love rooting for one side or the other.

Among those blue-state voters who do put some effort into their politics, I find there are four mistaken assumptions about government that guide their thinking. Government is an exercise of authority, so it’s wise to have a clear understanding of the nature of authority before voting to expand government.

The first, and perhaps most dangerous, assumption is that authority confers virtue. This seems to have become rooted in the American psyche after the exhilaration of victory in World War II, and the perceived success of the New Deal. Many people automatically assume liberal politicians are selfless servants of the people, who only want what is best for everyone. The media actively cultivates this mindset through its worship of bold Big Government initiatives, and the heroic statesmen who make them possible. If solving the problems of society is a noble endeavor, and the only solutions are titanic government programs, then the proponents of such programs must be noble!

Certain branches of the government, such as law enforcement and the military, tend to attract selfless and dedicated people. However, there is no reason entering government service, or winning elections, automatically makes someone virtuous. If this were not true, there would be no need for military police or internal-affairs divisions.

The federal government currently employs something like two million people. A system of this size cannot function if it must assume the majority of those employees will be tireless, self-sacrificing people of impeccable character and honesty. Government employees respond to incentives, just like private-sector workers. Politicians are no less avaricious than rich businessmen – especially since they can rely on their supporters, and the media, to conceal their greed beneath the pure white robes of the “public interest.” Imagine the outcry if a captain of industry announced the kind of power and money grabs that litter the endless press conferences of President Obama.

The second assumption is that authority bestows wisdom. There is a powerful desire, among much of the American public, to believe the government employs the best and brightest experts in every field. This is one of the reasons the global-warming scam endured as long as it did. Top people from government agencies, such as James Hansen of NASA or former Vice President Al Gore, were credited with honesty and intelligence they simply do not possess. The underlying principle of government-controlled health care is the belief that brilliant people in the ruling class and bureaucracy can engineer a better medical system than doctors, hospitals, and free-market competitors. This belief finally cracked against the inescapably tawdry reality of the back-room deals and political favors in the House and Senate. One of the reasons polls have revealed Americans turning so decisively against ObamaCare is that they can no longer convince themselves the proponents of the plan have anything resembling a plan. In a free country, the authority of government does not long survive the public’s loss of faith in its wisdom.

The third assumption is that authority implies benevolence. We elect our officials, and we like to think of them as “public servants” who work for us. The popular vote becomes a magic spell that transforms ambition into compassion. Liberals are comfortable with this Administration’s mad scramble for power because they’re serenely confident it will someday be used for the public good. They don’t like to think about power being hoarded for its own sake, placing tenured lions of the Senate on the same moral plane as money-grubbing capitalists. Because they disdain materialism and sneer at the pursuit of the almighty dollar, they imagine some invisible, sacred currency allows the government to express the will of the people.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from the last few decades, it’s that Big Government lives beneath a shroud of corruption that grows vaster, and darker, as the size of the State increases. The supposed benevolence behind a government program cannot be used to evaluate its performance. In a system woven from trillions of endlessly moving dollars, credit cannot be given for good intentions… any more than the honest good will of a Cessna pilot could suddenly give him the ability to fly an F-22 Raptor. It’s no comfort to the people crushed beneath failed government programs that the authors meant well.

Finally, there is the persistent, but ridiculous, superstition that authority creates wealth. A shocking number of people believe, at some primal level, that government can produce goods and services out of thin air, or “create” jobs through brilliant spending initiatives. In reality, the sole resource of government is coercion. Its only “product” is compulsive force. This is a useful resource – you want plenty of compulsive force handy when criminals invade your home, or terrorists attack a city. However, it is not a substitute for wealth.

Government prints money, but it doesn’t create value. It can use coercion to allocate resources, but this is a horribly inefficient and immoral system, compared to free enterprise. Like any other entity, the government “spends” more of its sole resource when it gets in trouble, imposing more compulsion through taxes and regulation.

Deployed wisely, coercive force enhances value. Your money is worth more because the government works to keep it (more or less) stable. Your buying power is enhanced when you can rely on the government to offer protection from fraud and theft. The authority of the government, when used sparingly, builds trust, and this makes its citizens wealthier.

When government power exceeds the limits necessary to build trust, and begins attempting to command the economy, value is destroyed. We’re living through that right now. In an environment of nationalized companies, union payoffs, and reckless deficit spending threatening the stability of our currency, the trust and confidence which lead private citizens to invest, generate wealth, and create jobs is diminished. Government force is the destroyer of possibilities… and what is wealth, but the accumulated value of the possible? Our economy operates at such a high level that marginal reductions in our freedom generate awful shocks to our standard of living. As bad as the economy is now, it can get much, much worse… if the vital energy of freedom is not restored to it.

The first four steps on the path to a proper appreciation of liberty lie in the rejection of these four assumptions about authority. The free market has never accepted them, which is why an anemic economy is desperate to hear a State of the Union address in which this President lists the things he will not do.

Cross-posted at www.doczero.org.

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