ARE GOVERNMENT FAILURES THE RESULT OF THE WRONG PEOPLE RUNNING IT?

The following is the final in our series by Michael Cloud c 2006 titled ARE GOVERNMENT FAILURES THE RESULT OF THE WRONG PEOPLE RUNNING IT?. While reading this article keep in mind that public schools are government schools. Should the education of our children be in the hands of the government or parents and the free market? Would you prefer to only go shopping at only one government run grocery store? Why should we be forced to send our children to one government school.

ARE GOVERNMENT FAILURES THE RESULT OF THE WRONG PEOPLE RUNNING IT?

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

"Tonight's News will show exactly who caused the failures of disaster relief for Hurricane Katrina's victims."

"The reason we're not making more progress in Iraq is the Secretary of Defense," says a critic. "We need to put someone in charge who knows how to bring together Iraqi factions."

"We need no nonsense, tough teachers and administrators in our public schools to shore up poor math and science skills," says a candidate.

"We've got to get the right people in charge of Social Security - so we can secure it for Baby Boomers," says a talk radio host.

These claims and hundreds like them rest on one unchallenged premise: that Big Government programs can regularly and reliably deliver the positive results their backers promised.

But Big Government programs repeatedly fail. Why? Their defenders respond, "1. These programs fail because the wrong people are in charge. 2. Big Government programs will succeed when we put the right people in charge."

If you believe this, you will focus your efforts on firing the incompetent bums running Big Government programs - and hiring competent, high quality leaders and managers to take their places.

Read the opinions, discussions, and debates at websites and on blogs. Listen to them on talk radio or cable TV. Most of the sound and fury centers on why a person in charge of a Big Government program is right or wrong for the job. Or why someone else has the right stuff and could straighten things out.

That's why most mainstream political debates focus on who's in charge.

But what if it's not a people problem?

What if it's the nature of government itself that causes the problems? What if it's a design characteristic of government itself that causes the problems - and makes them unavoidable and unfixable? What if "Why Government Doesn't Work" by Harry Browne is right?

Do a thought experiment.

What if YOU were in charge of the Federal Emergency Management Agency? You're subject to the same laws, regulations, budget, constraints, and political reality as the person currently holding the job. Can YOU make this Big Government program work?

Why or why not?

What if Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises were alive - and put in charge of the Internal Revenue Service. He's subject to today's mandates, laws, regulations, budget, constraints, and political reality. Could Ludwig von Mises make the IRS collect the money while NOT damaging their lives - or the economy?

What if Charles Murray were put in charge of Welfare. He's subject to today's mandates, laws, regulations, budget, constraints, and political reality. Could the author of "Losing Ground" make welfare effective?

Pick the brightest and wisest free market economist or libertarian to run any Big Government program you choose. Remember that he's subject to the nature of government, as well as today's mandates, laws, regulations, budget, constraints, and political reality. Can HE make Big Government work?

Of course not.

Fire burns, water's wet, and gravity doesn't play favorites.

Big Government programs turn out the way they do because of the nature of government.

There are 5 Iron Laws of Big Government

I. Big Government Programs Don't Work.

II. Big Government Programs often make things worse for the very people they're intended to help.

III. Big Government Programs create new problems.

IV. Big Government Programs are costly and wasteful.

V. Big Government Programs divert money and energy from positive, productive uses.

So, when you hear political debates that focus on who's in charge - and who should be in charge - bring the conversation to the real cause of the repeated and massive failures -- Big Government itself.