“We have given our best attempts to democratic practices here over the years, with monarchs at the start and tyrants in between. As a family, we have had our ‘run of the town’ and been run out of town. People don’t remember the good you did for them when they’re part of a mob. You can’t expect logic in a riot. You can’t hold bad feelings after you’ve lost everything and come back…”
“What you have to know is that boring, inefficient bureaucracies and faceless agencies filled with dutiful people will act as an anchor when provocateurs take office and make the public’s blood run hot. The government will continue to function, you hope. Pension checks and road repairs, medical care and diplomatic relations, things and needs that don’t change with the right or the left in power, these are the glue. If they don’t hold, your society is cut loose…”
“I hear people talk about reform and smaller government when it fills their needs. You don’t want smaller government. You want a heavy, massive government that is almost impossible to move because of the needs it provides to the people and the continuity it gives to them, too. It should be slow and somewhat inefficient. This will make people grateful when things get done and not allow bad ideas to go forth too quickly and do too much damage before it’s realized…”
“Only national defense and domestic law enforcement should be quick, responsive, and decisive in their actions. Emergencies, too, should be addressed efficiently as well. These are military matters dealing with force and speed, so that is the way they work best. The courts should be slow, but in the end generally fair. Judges and juries who give rulings publicly and clearly explain why they ruled the way they did so that their paths of logic can be examined and if needed overturned if one finds fault in the process…”
“Clear the way for business people to start and create wealth, then regulate them and tax them to keep them in line and build the rest of society. Financiers will never have enough money, so tax them. Politicians will never have enough power, so limit their abilities by law and if required remove them from office by force. We’ve done it here, and it’s a costly endeavor, but if you want to live free with a just system that you can complain about but still tolerate, and maybe improve, do what you have to do…”
- A.M. dT.
A heavy, massive government that is slow and somewhat inefficient? No thanks.
Something I’ve learned in my engineering career: you can have an efficient system or you can have a resilient system. Not both. If it’s government we are talking about, which do you choose?
Entrepreneurs and businesses should be free to make as much money as they can, without excessive taxes or regulation. But government should provide essential services, a legal system and a safety net for the poorest of the poor. The trick is to find a way to do both. Neither one should excessively hamper or undermine the other. In the U.S. we tilt toward free enterprise. In France they tilt a little more toward government services such as education, medical care and generous pensions. Hence their massive bureaucracy. Its about finding the right balance.