Regression to Serfdom

The market has failed. That's a frequent justification for expanding the powers granted to politicians. But how has the market failed? By who's standards? When we miss a hole in one do we talk about "physics failure?" Or if we can't balance the checkbook is it a "failure of mathematics?" What it really means is that people's interactions haven't produced the results the speaker wanted. But how often do these same folks talk about legislative failure? About programs and politics that have unintended consequences?

These days it is rare that people seize power by force of arms. The people violently wrested power from the ruling class in a series of revolts over hundreds of years. Now, the approach of the ruling class is to convince the people to freely gift that power back to the government, where it can be conveniently bought and sold. As I've said before, when you hear "the free market has failed" just mentally substitute "freedom has failed" and you'll begin to see through the lies used to convince us to return to serfdom.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled." - Loki

Surplus Population

Catholic.org had an interesting article pointing out that Obamacare will pay for sterilizations of teens as young as 15 without parental consent (probably due to an unintentional combination of laws which simply proves the Law of Unintended Consequences).  Combine that with a Secretary of HHS who looks at abortion as a source of tax savings and you've got a pretty chilling worldview shaping up on the left: a worldview that simply doesn't value human life.

The House Noone Built

The apologists for the President are now coming out of the woodwork regarding his "You didn't build that" quip, saying he just meant everyone has gotten a little help from friends and family to get where they are. Obviously, framed this way, it is very difficult to argue with such a blanket and relatively vanilla observation. Of course, to believe that you have to ignore not only what he said, but also the context in which he said it. Frankly, he said that if you have a successful business, it's not because of your own effort or attributes, but because government programs and infrastructure made it all possible.

The problem with this line of thinking is that government is overhead. It's a cost center, not a profit center. As James Madison said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary" and we could reduce this cost to zero. However, that's not the case. We need a certain minimum level of government in order to create an environment conducive to economic growth (as illustrated by the Armey Curve).

Allow me to illustrate. A manufacturing company has an HR department, to handle the various needs involved in managing their people. If the company wanted to increase its productivity, it would not double the staffing in its HR department. If anything, they would look for ways to cut the HR budget to the minimum necessary to still have a well-managed workforce.

If a farmer wants to grow wheat, he needs fertile soil to create the right environment for growth. But at some point he actually needs to sow and water and harvest. Beyond a certain point, more soil doesn't help.

If I open a business in a shopping complex, can the landlord claim that I didn't build my business? Can he claim that if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have a business? Can he lay claim to a percentage of my profits above and beyond whatever rent I've agreed to pay him? Can the business next door to mine claim a percentage of my profits because his rent helps pay for the entire building? The landlord may have created the conditions, but without my efforts it would just be an empty building. Unfortunately, today's political climate has made that a very common sight.

So, although we may derive benefits from government infrastructure, it doesn't produce growth by itself and actually crowds out alternative investments . Although other people have paid for it, we've paid for it too in the same taxes and fees that everyone else has. What no one else has shared is the risk I've taken, the hard work and perseverance I've applied, or the vision and the will to build. For two hundred years we've been the freest nation in the world and as a result have experienced the greatest boom of economic growth and technological innovation. Politicians didn't build that; the People did.