Thank you government
June 7, 2011
You probably thought the title was ironic. Why should that be?
Mutual benefit
Falkenblog has a post that includes:
When the barista says ‘thank you’ for buying coffee, and I say ‘thank you’ back, we have a double thank you moment, symptomatic of positive gains from trade. In contrast, I don’t say ‘thank you’ when I pay my taxes, and the government doesn’t say ‘thanks’ to me either.
The government should say thanks when we pay taxes. But why is it so universal that we don’t appreciate government?
Without government we would be in a state not unlike Somalia. But we resist even though our current governments are reasonably benign — especially relative to those of the last few millennia.
It isn’t that we are averse to creating community associations. The community around R is happy and vibrant. People do get a choice of whether to associate with R or not, while governments are a one-size-fits-all affair.
Given that some governments are not so benign to other countries, some people might worry that such governments are able to turn and eat their own as well. However, quite the opposite effect is often in play.
Questions
What has gone wrong that governments are regarded so poorly?
What steps would make it better?
Epilogue
Just like a homeless, that hangs around your home
Or a mother who’d give away her own
from “The Wonderful Wizard” by Guggenheim Grotto
