James Q. Wilson, America's preeminent social scientist, has noted that until relatively recently, "politics was about only a few things; today, it is about nearly everything." Until the 1930s, or perhaps the 1960s, there was a "legitimacy barrier" to federal government activism: When new policies were proposed, the first debate was about whether the federal government could properly act at all on the subject. Today, there is no barrier to the promiscuous multiplication of programs, because no program is really new. Rather, it is an extension, modification or enlargement of something government is already doing.
~ George Will, Hubris heading for a fall
Friday, January 21, 2011
Quote of the Day: George Will
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Very interesting. I think this quote references a common theme in many of your post: the expansion of the government.
ReplyDeleteThis certainly provides food for thought over what is the role that our government really should have.
I may not know the exact role of government but I know it's not to tell me what to do. Governments role to but into everything is a failed experiment because some expect a imperfect bureaucrat to rule over an imperfect population. It's never going to work. One size doesn't fit all, so don't try.
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