Fail-Safe is Good
27 December 2008
Editor, The New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Re "The World According to Cheney" (December 23): You openly regard the Bush administration as an unalloyed catastrophe. And you're sure that the Obama administration will be much better. I agree about Bush; I disagree about Obama.
But even if I agreed that Mr. Obama will bestow upon America countless blessings, I would still forgo those blessings in exchange for a radical reduction in government's power and size. One reason is that I value individual freedom as an end it itself. A second reason - one more prudential - is that a system that so routinely dysfunctions by giving us the likes of Bush-Cheney (and Nixon-Agnew, and Tom DeLay, and you-name-your-favorite curs) is untrustworthy.
Just as, say, the stability and peace of mind that monogamy offers married couples are worth the sacrifice of the ecstasies anticipated from secret affairs with unusually attractive seducers, the stability and peace of mind that limited government offers society is worth the sacrifice of whatever ecstasies are anticipated from unusually attractive "leaders."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, The New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
Re "The World According to Cheney" (December 23): You openly regard the Bush administration as an unalloyed catastrophe. And you're sure that the Obama administration will be much better. I agree about Bush; I disagree about Obama.
But even if I agreed that Mr. Obama will bestow upon America countless blessings, I would still forgo those blessings in exchange for a radical reduction in government's power and size. One reason is that I value individual freedom as an end it itself. A second reason - one more prudential - is that a system that so routinely dysfunctions by giving us the likes of Bush-Cheney (and Nixon-Agnew, and Tom DeLay, and you-name-your-favorite curs) is untrustworthy.
Just as, say, the stability and peace of mind that monogamy offers married couples are worth the sacrifice of the ecstasies anticipated from secret affairs with unusually attractive seducers, the stability and peace of mind that limited government offers society is worth the sacrifice of whatever ecstasies are anticipated from unusually attractive "leaders."
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Saturday May 23, 2009 at 6:12pm