Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Freedom of Consent

We have to remember that the people in government are just like people in the corporate world.  They're ultimately self-interested.  They need to feel the connection between their actions and their consequences to make good decisions.  The difference is that we've entrusted them with coersive power; the authority to use force to compel us to do or not do certain things.  And power once ceded is rarely given back.  We really ought to remember that before inviting them into every aspect of our daily lives:

The problem... is that government is no different from any other organization in society -- it seeks its own aggrandizement. AT&T, General Motors, and Microsoft would love to have world monopolies, controlling all the resources and expanding into every corner of people's lives. But they are limited by competition, the dynamics of the marketplace, and the need to win people's consent in order to market their products.

Government is different. It expands by fiat, through legislation, through taking advantage of emergencies, and by declaring that private entities can't be trusted and government intervention is necessary. Most of all it grows by raising taxes and hiring more and more people so that soon its voter base approaches a majority of the electorate.
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/09/26/the-moochers-credo/

Let's face it.  It's easier to convince a majority of 435 people in Washington D.C. than it is to try to win the consent of millions of consumers exercising their freedom in the market.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Search Engine Submission - AddMe