Why Limited Government?

Were Friedrich Hayek still alive, he would find that the United States of America is still on the Road to Serfdom.

It Is Very Simple

Nobody wants to be told what you can and cannot do or how much of your hard earned money you are coerced to give to another person.

Why would we want to have dim witted, half educated, impatient, activist elected representatives and bureaucrats constantly meddle in every aspect of our lives as they see fit? Elected representatives and bureaucrats succumb to the same fads, vanities, and follies as we do except that they are in power and control.

Democracy Is The Worst Of All Forms Of Government

Except for those forms of government that have been tried before. Well, we have now decades or up to two centuries of experience with various forms of democracy. It is not pretty. We are to be content and ccompare the outcomes of democracy to a sausage factory or with a necessary evil. These notions are too defeatist or fatalist.

The Many Failures And Flaws Of Democracy

The current Great Recession is a prime exhibit of how elected politicians and unelected bureaucrats failed again on a massive scale. Of course, the elected representatives have been looking for others as scapegoats.

Too many majority votes are subject to chance or events and are driven by the wisdom of the day (Tyranny of the Majority).

The outcomes of majority decisions are often one size fits all, but satisfy few, or represent the least common denominator.

Influential minorities constantly game the system at the expense of the silent majority and elected representatives pander to these minorities for votes and money (Tyranny of the Minority).

The upward ratchet of government expenditures. They rarely ratchet down again from high levels once reached.

The upward ratchet of government debt. Rarely do governments pay down debt. They usually only add to it.

The upward ratchet of laws and regulations. E.g. tax laws and regulations are infamous for ever expanding and getting more complex. Rarely are laws or regulations, once on the book, allowed to expire or are being completely abolished, instead they get rededicated at best.

Government attracts power hungry people. People, who like to impose their will on others. Like the rest of us, elected representatives rarely admit mistakes nor correct them in a meaningful way.

Solutions

The powers of government must be narrowly defined and enumerated. The classic liberal basic functions of government must be emphasized again with individual freedom, responsibility, and moral values at its core.

Debt financing of government budgets are to be prohibited.

Total expenditures of all levels or forms of government must be limited to a certain percentage of the size of the economy, e.g. 30%.

Governments must be required to maintain a reasonable rainy day fund for unexpected expenses.

The historic monopoly of government over money needs to be critically reviewed. The fact that in recent times many central banks of major economies have for years kept short term interest rates at artificial and recklessly low levels is a wakeup call.

Voting by money or voluntary taxation. No citizen should be compelled to pay taxes, only donations to government. I have written a separate blog about voluntary taxation titled “The Greatest Tax Reform Of All Times In Honor Of Benjamin Franklin”.

Term limits for all elected representatives. Nobody should be in public service for more than, let’s say, 12 years and then return to the private sector again. Similar rules should apply to bureaucrats.

For the sake of brevity, the judiciary will not be covered here.