Three Americas
16 November 2006
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
Dear Editor:
Re "Pelosi and Pork" (Nov. 16):
Reflecting on the recent election, I conclude that people can be divided into three groups. Members of the first group (consisting of left-liberals and some conservatives) imagine that society is a consciously created machine requiring an operator and a bevy of busy technicians to keep it working properly. Members of the second group (consisting of libertarians and some conservatives) understand that society is a complex and undesigned organism that, when rules of private property are well-enough entrenched, works quite well according to its own logic - a working that is typically disrupted for the worse by government meddling.
The third group is made up of politicians and their hangers-on: they see society as a she-goat to be milked for their own power and glory.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281
Dear Editor:
Re "Pelosi and Pork" (Nov. 16):
Reflecting on the recent election, I conclude that people can be divided into three groups. Members of the first group (consisting of left-liberals and some conservatives) imagine that society is a consciously created machine requiring an operator and a bevy of busy technicians to keep it working properly. Members of the second group (consisting of libertarians and some conservatives) understand that society is a complex and undesigned organism that, when rules of private property are well-enough entrenched, works quite well according to its own logic - a working that is typically disrupted for the worse by government meddling.
The third group is made up of politicians and their hangers-on: they see society as a she-goat to be milked for their own power and glory.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Thursday July 5, 2007 at 5:47am