Those who can't remember history…


There's no difference in excess between the two major parties.
Stephen Moore has an article in today's OpinionJournal.com

Conspicuously missing from the post-Katrina spending debate is a question for some brave soul in Congress to ask, What is the appropriate and constitutional role here for the federal government? Before the New Deal taught us that the federal government is the solution to every malady, most congresses and presidents would have concluded that the federal government's role was minimal. One of our greatest presidents, Democrat Grover Cleveland, vetoed an appropriation for drought victims because there was no constitutional authority to spend for such purposes. Today he would be ridiculed by Ted Kennedy as "incompassionate."

Katrina may have destroyed the Democratic stronghold in the South, but it also looks like it is going to seal the deal on the Republican soul.

Compassion isn't measured by the amount of Federal money that can be thrown at a problem.

*sighs*

Okay, let's back up.

Government prints and mints money, but government can't give money value. That is because money is really just a measure of value, it has no value itself.

In order to capitalize and multiply value, money has to move freely from one place to another.

There are trillions of pieces of information contained within that value. You may not know the price of a gear shift knob from a 1946 Ford or what oil futures are right now or the price of chicken feed. But you don't have to, the free market does it already. It gives you a ready way to compare the value of any good or service you can name.

A very big part of the process is the effort needed to get money in the first place. If you have to work hard for the money, then you place a bigger value on that money.

"Free money" goofs up the process, it removes value from the system. You lose the standard of comparison.

Now, I am not saying that victims of Katrina shouldn't get help.

I am saying that most of the help should not come from the government. I am saying that may solve some problems, but it will create more dependancy and will lessen the costs of bad choices.

Actually I am saying that government shouldn't help at all, but I am probably dreaming. After all, the New Orleans levee board was under Federal investigation before Katrina hit. And despite a long history of corruption in Louisiana, Congress gave them the money. Let's not forget the habit of Congress to fund pork barrel projects without asking to measure results.

There is the other direct result of Federal money showers. Responsibility for the "social problems" become the FedGovernment's concern. Instead of people taking a direct hand, they look at the situation and dismiss it as Somebody Else's Problem*. People know it's being taken care of and that they don't have to worry. After all, the Great and Benevolent State tells them so. Repeatedly. All they have to do is pay higher taxes and not ask too many questions.

So let's review.

Compassion has become measured by the amount of government money.

"Free money" means that people lose the ability to measure value.

Government action discourages private action.

Government is not known for spending money efficiently or without corruption,

These are the problems.

Government is not the answer.

*The late Douglas Adams coined the phrase Somebody Else's Problem in capital letters in one of his novels. The SEP Field worked only because people didn't notice that it couldn't. Without careful effort and sidelong glances, people couldn't even see what was within the SEP Field. It was literally Somebody Else's Problem.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Mon - September 19, 2005 at 04:47 AM  Tag


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