Surely, if the government we have is inadequate– the only way we can make it better is to make it bigger, right? It comes up over and over again, like some monster of mythology– when no sooner do you cut off its head, another one (or two) grows in its place. Paul Krugman presents the same, tired, wishful, utopian socialist belief:
that “if only the right people” were in charge, we would no longer need to worry about ineptitude and cronyism. Of course, Mr Krugman, in a world popluated by infallible, omniscient men, and ruled by those men, we wouldn’t need to worry about this. But the world isn’t populated with a single infallible, omniscient man, and therein lies the flaw inherent in the argument.

This is why we need a system of checks and balances, founded on personal rights, and responsibilities. We do not need another bureaucracy, a larger bureaucracy, or a better bureaucracy (if that’s not an oxymoron). We need reduced buraucracy. Less red-tape. Fewer restrictions on our freedoms and rights.

But thanks for trying.

More on socialism/planning later. Reading a nice piece on world poverty and the abysmal record that here.