Under the planned economy, we did not pursue happiness by making others happy. Instead, we pursued happiness by making others unhappy. Our energies were spent fighting for power and gain. We were competing, even competing for life and death, but we were not creating value.
-Weiying Zhang ( The Logic of the Market)
Prof DonBoudreaux add (emphasis mine): Greed is not just for money
Every expansion of the state incites more people to compete – and to compete more intensely – to possess the power over others that that expansion brings. From each individual’s perspective, it’s better to be in the group that exercises power rather than in the groups against whom the power is exercised. Unlike competition in markets, competition for power wastes material resources and human time and energy (rent-seeking wastes); such competition is never win-win but, rather, win-lose. But also unlike competition in markets, competition for power results in the worst form of inequality – indeed, the only form of inequality that warrants legitimate concern – namely, inequality of power. Those with state power, regardless of how they acquire it, can command those without state power. Those with state power use force to override the choices of those without state power. Those with state power do the choosing; those without state power do the obeying.
Progressives should be called out for their increasing of power inequality – more for themselves and The State (but I repeat myself).
The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen
(H/T: Cafe Hayek)
