Over-Coddled

As I suggested Monday, in my arrogant opinion, Adam Smith was right on; protecting the individual's freedom to pursue his separate interests is clearly in the best interest of society. There is however a place, as one reader commented, where a glaring distortion exists... That would be the building on 1st Street, nestled (ironically) between Independence and Constitution avenues in Washington, DC.

In the world of big government (today's world), the self-interested politician is in a unique position to exploit the confused state of the voter who believes the essential role of government is to ensure his well-being... It's in the politician's self-interest, or so he believes, to promise this voter a heavily subsidized piece of the pie...

It appears however as though the glad-hander, at long last, is beginning to realize that promising that which he can no longer deliver (and is in no one's best interest) is anything but a self-serving act... That bloated budgets and debt-ridden balance sheets ultimately lead to attack from the very people he pretends to help...

Take Europe for example... Governments have borrowed and spent way beyond their means, have entitled and taxed all they can, and are left with literally no choice but true austerity... Consequently, thousands of public-sector employees (500,000 in London just last month) are in the streets, screaming for the printing of more money - oblivious to the fact that their life-long reliance on bureaucrats (like over-coddled children) is the very cause of their angst... and that their bureaucrats' short-sighted distorted view of the world (like over-coddling parents) is the very cause of their country's (like the over-coddled/coddling family) predicament...

Now take our bureaucrats, please, someone, take our bureaucrats...

Have a nice day!
Marty