"The Leadership Myth"


Arnold Kling points out why it is a REALLY BAD IDEA to look to the government for solutions

I don't always agree with Arnold Kling, but he calls this one right.

The libertarian view is that private institutions, both for-profit and non-profit, are better at problem-solving than government institutions. Regardless of whether political leadership is wise or mediocre, our goal should be to limit the damage that public officials can do. Do not demand that they "solve" health care, "fix" education, or launch a "Manhattan project" for energy independence. Even for experts, those are impossible tasks. The harder we press our existing leaders to address these issues, the more trouble they are going to cause.

The belief that the problem with government is the particular individuals in power is dangerous. The myth is that somewhere out there we could find great leaders who could use government to solve all of our problems. Instead, we need to be vigilant against the enlargement of government, by either mediocre or expert leaders.

It's simple.

Government can not be trusted. The only defense is to make it smaller than absolutely necessary and make sure it is restricted to it's proper scope.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Thu - December 7, 2006 at 01:50 PM  Tag


 ◊  ◊   ◊  ◊ 

Random selections from NeoWayland's library



Pagan Vigil "Because LIBERTY demands more than just black or white"
© 2005 - 2009 All Rights Reserved