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A Reminder from Harry Browne
The Seven Not-to-Be-Forgotten Principles of Government
- Government is force.
- Government is politics.
- You don’t control government.
- Every government program will be more expensive and more expansive than anything you had in mind when you proposed it.
- Power will always be misused.
- Government doesn’t work.
- Government must be subject to absolute limits.
Conclusion
If you really want to cure a pressing social problem, take steps outside the realm of government. If you don’t see how you can convince people to help you succeed in a non-governmental endeavor, how can you expect to control politicians who care nothing for your desires?
And if you really want to make a noticeable difference, if you really want to improve life, do something for yourself or your family today. That’s where you have real control, that’s where you don’t need to rely on politicians — or anyone else — and you can make sure the results are as you intend.
Published in Politics
Public goods only. It has an actual definition.
Any government actuarial system has to be overfunded pretty much all of the time, basically.
The Federal Reserve stops pushing the economy around.
Everybody needs to get on board with the judge Learned Hand “Spirit of Liberty” speech.
This really needs to go Main Feed.
I continue to be surprised at how many people forget (or never thought about) #1 – Government is force (and does what it does only because it exerts (or credibly threatens to exert) force onto people.
I do keep wondering when people identify some perceived problem and then insist that some government program be established to address that problem why don’t they consider setting up their own voluntary program to address the problem? Why should people be forced to do something that you can’t convince them to do voluntarily?
This is critically important to remember. Those of us who are committed to making this a better world can start right at home: be kind and helpful to our families, our friends, our neighbors, and (from my perspective) to remember why we are here and who we serve through those actions.
Government doesn’t work? What developed the atomic bomb and won WWII? How did we land on the moon?
Government is a blunt instrument, a sledgehammer not a scalpel, but sometimes you need raw power. All successful government programs have defined goals & burn cash like a Saturn V burns RP-1.
Any government program will be underfunded, because we live in a finite universe.
THEORETICALLY
I watched a bunch of videos about this. This is how to think about your comment, which is accurate in the big picture.
Any kind of pension system, like Social Security or Medicare, theoretically saves you money because you don’t have to reserve for a whole individual life. You only reserve based on death tables. It literally only needs half funding.
The problem is we don’t even do that.
The other problem is government employees should really make less salary when you give them something like that, and we obviously don’t do that.
We had a local radio guy that harped on this. Government employees should just get a higher salary and they should just stay the hell out of all of this, because they steal money politically. Theoretically, Social Security and Medicare are different. Also we use them for redistribution, but nobody wants to get into the weeds on this topic. lol
Yes!
I’m not all that smart, but a long time ago I figured out that, while we need a government, it is by nature a blunt instrument (as noted above). It should be used as a last resort, for things that we all agree that only The Government can do (protect our borders, defend America from hostile enemies, etc.).
When someone poses a problem, I always ask them to suggest at least three ways this could be addressed without involving the government. The main discussion should then be between these three, before activating the Blunt Instrument. And “solution #4” – doing nothing – should always be carefully considered before option BI.
What a blast from the past. I actually voted for Browne for President back in 1996, though I now regret it a bit (but not a lot). I had supported Bush in 1992, but he lost my support by violating his “no new taxes” pledge.
Turning to the substance of the List of Seven:
I think that 1-3 are definitely correct, and 4 is such a good general rule that it’s not worth arguing about any possible exceptions.
I disagree with 4 and 5. They are true some of the time. I’d agree with modifications to: “4. Power will often be misused” and “5. Government usually doesn’t work very well.”
I’m not sure about 7. I agree with the statement as a literal matter, but hesitate because I probably disagree substantially with Browne about the scope of those absolute limits.
Thanks for the post.
7. Government must be subject to absolute limits. Because politicians have every incentive to expand government, and with it their power, there must be absolute limits on government.
The Constitution provides the obvious limits we must reimpose upon the federal government. Until the Constitution is enforced, we have no hope of containing the federal government.
The present system of unlimited power is like giving a drunken stranger a set of signed, blank checks on your bank account. You are reduced to relying on the honesty and integrity of people you don’t even know — and they abuse that trust again and again.
Whether you think government should be bigger or smaller than the limits specified in the Constitution, the first step is to restore absolute limits, and then — if you like — work to change those limits to ones that would be more to your liking.
Nobody is going to care about this, but I have an opinion on absolute limits. You don’t need a balanced budget amendment. The issue is discretionary central banking. If you had free-floating interest rates, that is going to force the government to spend more intelligently, including borrowing. This precludes war of course. lol
Government has to fight wars
Build Roads
Pay Police
The whole thing needs to be resourced really well because the vast majority of police departments are actually hard to run well. People act like it isn’t this way. They don’t think it through and they get really idealistic about it. It’s just dumb.
Here’s some rules:
Take note, those of you who support “Stakeholder Capitalism,” or “Common Good” capitalism.
On 4, I would add that most never live up to their promise
On 5, I would revise to unchecked power will be misused
Government is necessary because men want to control and abuse other men. Government is dangerous because men want to control and abuse other men.
Just another way to say what Madison had to say awhile ago. So then the question is, has always been: how to establish effective government to protect us from harm without that same government becoming the agent of harm. In other words limiting the size and scope of government. Best answer so far, write down what government may and may not do and establish ways to hold them to it = Constitutional government. It only works as long as most of the people are willing to stand up and be counted.
Yes, this. One of the many big takeaways from Amity Shlaes excellent book, The Forgotten Man, was that Hoover essentially wanted to do many of the thing that FDR eventually did. He felt constrained by the Constitution. FDR did, NOT have that problem.
Beware the govcoin!
I should read that. I was more impressed by her book on The Great Society than I expected to be.
Yes, The Great Society was fantastic. She has this ability to find historical figures and make them characters in a tragic narrative. Well meaning, but frequently misguided people with motivations – good and bad. The Forgotten Man established that form with FDR’s control freaks and inevitable victims.