Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
The thin veneer of false confidence is becoming more apparent. You can sense the uneasy misgivings in the comments of the Washington Post’s Constitutional scholar Ezra Klein who had been told by senior administration officials that they expect the economy to grow fast and soon. “But if that doesn't happen,” writes Klein, “it's not at all clear that they have a workable policy or political theory for what to do about it.”
Listening to the President last night, however, one is left with the impression that they do indeed have ideas on what to do. They have over $21 billion worth of ideas, to be precise. The National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF) added up the proposals from the newly minted deficit hawk in-chief, to the extent that they can be added up, and found $21.349 billion per year in new proposals alone. “Obama outlined 15 proposals with a fiscal impact last night, five of which would boost spending, three of which would cut them, and seven of which had costs or savings that could not be ascertained from NTUF’s accounting procedures…” writes the NTUF. Among the meatiest proposals were transportation infrastructure spending in the neighborhood of $50 billion, and $1.35 billion in spending on “race to the top” education initiatives. For those of us who have been witnessing the full bloom of those hideous Orwellian signs boasting that the ensuing maze of orange cones and barrels was brought to you by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, another 50 billion bucks is not terribly encouraging. For a President whose instinct is to abort parental school choice initiatives, another 1.35 billion smackeroos for the teachers unions is equally unlikely to inspire confidence.
Was there a single initiative the President proposed last night that advanced the cause of individual liberty? Would the Founders have even recognized the behemoth of a government over which Barak Obama presides? Did the Constitution get so much as a cursory nod from the President last night? What does the statist agenda portend for the future of America? Turning again to Ezra Klein, we read, “ And so far as the future goes, it doesn't matter how many tax credits you offer for college students: If 8 percent unemployment becomes the new normal, we've lost.”
Perhaps Messrs Klein, Obama, Krugman, and the rest could explain how a government that sucks more and more resources, tangible and intangible, from the private sector can ever hope to achieve economic success, or how one can expect the private sector to thrive while the government suffocates it with more taxes and regulation. Perhaps they will stop for just a moment and consider the words of Alexis de Tocqueville:
After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
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May '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
Tocqueville is amazing. He reminds me of Spock (Star Trek) in his ability to coldly evaluate almost any social feature. He sees both the good and the bad and doesn't pull punches.
I tried to read him once and got tired, but the Audiobook version is very well-done (and you can listen while you drive).
Jun '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
After having thus successively taken each member of the community in its powerful grasp and fashioned him at will, the supreme power then extends its arm over the whole community. It covers the surface of society with a network of small, complicated rules, minute and uniform, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters cannot penetrate, to rise above the crowd. The will of man is not shattered, but softened, bent, and guided; men seldom forced by it to act, but they are constantly restrained from acting. Such a power does not destroy, but it prevents existence; it does not tyrannize, but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious animals, of which the government is the shepherd.
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Uh, yeah.
May '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
Dave Carter: Perhaps Messrs Klein, Obama, Krugman, and the rest could explain how a government that sucks more and more resources, tangible and intangible, from the private sector can ever hope to achieve economic success, or how one can expect the private sector to thrive while the government suffocates it with more taxes and regulation. Perhaps they will stop for just a moment and consider the words of Alexis de Tocqueville:
These fellows could read that Tocqueville passage out loud to each other every day for a week and they would never recognize themselves in it.
Sep '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
Anyone hear who has had trouble with Tocqueville could do worse than pick up the Harvey Mansfield translation along with his excellent little Short Oxford Guide to de Tocqueville.
Oh, and one other piece of trivia. On a 3 hour interview with C-Span once I heard Mansfield state, unequivocally, that what made him a conservative and a Republican was teacher's unions.
Jun '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
Such powerful imagery in that passage......thanks for posting it.
Jan '11
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
Is that not exactly what happened to Indians on the reservations and blacks with the war on poverty?
Edited on Jan 27, 2011 at 5:06amJul '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
That observation by Alexis de Tocqueville just blows me away. The man was not only a genius but a seer as well. Stasis is our fate unless we began hacking away at the tentacles enveloping us with ever greater speed.
May '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
“it's not at all clear that they have a workable policy or political theory for what to do about it.”
Jeez louise. If that's our starting point, no wonder we suck. Hey, Einstein, here's a plan: Do nothing. Masterly inactivity.
Oops, sorry, just got a call saying my economics degree has been revoked like a Helen Thomas award.
Oct '10
Re: Ezra Klein, Meet Alexis de Tocqueville
Thank you for bringing that timely quote to light. If only your posts were a column in the NYTimes.