Below is a letter that I sent several months ago to the New York Times. I regard the quotation (in the letter) from Walter Lippmann to convey one of the most overlooked yet important ideas of modern times.
I share David Brooks’s fear and loathing of President Obama’s thuggish methods of persuading business executives to ‘cooperate’ with his obnoxious intrusions into the economy (“And the Angels Rejoice,” May 26). As I read Mr. Brooks’s spirited lament, I recalled this wise warning from Walter Lippmann (found on pages 105-106 of Lippmann’s 1937 book The Good Society):
“Though it is disguised by the illusion that a bureaucracy accountable to a majority of voters, and susceptible to the pressure of organized minorities, is not exercising compulsion, it is evident that the more varied and comprehensive the regulation becomes, the more the state becomes a despotic power as against the individual. For the fragment of control over the government which he exercises through his vote is in no effective sense proportionate to the authority exercised over him by the government.“*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
* emphasis added
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Democratic government, as with any majoritarian government, pits each individual against everybody else, a blatantly lopsided proposition.For politicians and bureaucrats, the vote is merely a sanction for their authority.
Democratic government, as with any majoritarian government, pits each individual against everybody else, a blatantly lopsided proposition.For politicians and bureaucrats, the vote is merely a sanction for their authority.
Democracy has a role in diffusing power and preventing despotism, but can just as easily be misused in the service of despotism.
Seeing this, the Founders were morally ambiguous about democracy (as is apparent throughout the CotUS), seeing its potential as both a useful tool properly restricted, and a dangerous threat to human liberty.
Thank you — this is exactly why I feel the way I do about government.
True, the vote is practically meaningless, and “fragment of control” is a serious overstatement. But there is always the option of joining the organization. That is, to “get involved”, to become a member of the political class, to work one’s way up through the ranks, to get a seat at the table, and a share of the loot. Those who have done so even encourage such behavior. And that is the real problem – an elitist culture that honors political behavior and disparages productive behavior.
My outrage against government is in direct proportion to my understanding that they enslave me using my money to buy the propaganda sources, to buy the chains, and the irons.