I watched this yesterday and George Will (his words above) absolutely nailed it – those that believe everywhere they look are nails for their Government hammer. One entity cannot do everything, and it certainly can’t do everything well. Look at the news that HP is about to split itself into two parts – far larger than almost all other tech firms, its leaders understand and have made the hard decision that smaller is better and that a more tightly focused view of things will yield a better chance for excellence. Yet, Government is the exact opposite – even as its problems and its seamy side increase, the only answer is “give us more!” – more money, more heads, and more intrusion into everybody’s business.
George continues:
“Government is not competent. Frankly it’s not competent under Republicans or Democrats because it is always a monopoly and monopolies are not disciplined by market forces that are connected with reality. Teasing this segment, you asked “can we have faith in government?” I think we have much more to fear from excessive faith in government than from too little faith in government. You asked “can we trust the government to do its job?” What isn’t its job these days? I’ve just made a list. It’s fine-tuning the curriculum of our students k-12, monitoring sex on campuses, deciding how much ethanol we should put in our gas tanks, it’s designed our lightbulbs, and it’s worried sick over the name of the Washington football team.
Now this is a government that doesn’t know when to stop.
“The distilled essence of progressivism is that government is benign, disinterested force, that’s false, and that it’s stuffed with expert, really gifted at doing things. Republicans do this also. Democrats do it on domestic policy. Republicans brought us nation building, regime change. A common theme is the excessive faith in the skills of government.”
Those in Government are simply no better than the rest of us – they put their pants on the same way the rest of us (that pay their salaries) do. Some may be smarter but I am darn sure many are not. They are not more non-partisan than the rest of us – there is a reason why the Democrat Party is called the Party for Government; in many cases, it IS the Party OF Government.
Thus, can Government, or its leaders, ever have the courage that HP had in doing the same?
(H/T: The Corner)
