by Jack Lee
My frustration with government blunders caused me to think how is it possible for government tocontinuously do dumb things? Seems like we can’t go 24 hours without hearing about something inordinately stupid that government has done or is about to do and there has to be an explanation why?
Well, I’ve come up with a theory and it begins with the premise that the collective intelligence of big government has never, and will never, exceed that of the average individual or said another way, “Democracy is the pathetic belief that collective wisdom arises from a pool of individual ignorance.” H.L. Mencken. Now that’s a little strong, but I get his point about big government.
If your thinking is slightly above average or better, then you’re doomed to always be one step ahead of government’s limited collective wisdom. Thus you’re facing a lifetime of frustrations!
This essay wasn’t meant to be an assault on democracy. Despite it’s flaws democracy is still the best system out here. However, it doesn’t hurt to point out that when we have too many laws, rules and regulations they will conflict with each other and too often compromise common sense. This is the end effect of a bloated and lethargic government and its exactly why we should work to keep it streamlined.
A bloated government is always lethargic and this is compounded by “cover-your-butt first” bureaucrats. They have learned (sometimes the hard way) that its better to follow the rules than to think. There’s safety in blindly following orders. So, as government thinking evolves we see that more public servants look for answers in the book rather than to use a little brain power and then do the right thing despite the book. They always defer to that which is written.
We have become way to dependent on government to tell us what to do that we’ve become the codependents of this bureaucratic thinking!
Recently, a fire chief would not sending his men into the water to rescue a drowning man because they had not been re-certified in water rescue, due to budget cutbacks. And he was right according to bureaucracy and wrong according to morality. (See story on the Alameda beach drowning 6/1/2011 for details)
Have you noticed that we too often have great ideas that go into a committee only to die there or come out as an averaged out idea? When was the last time you saw something great being implemented by government? I sure can’t think of anything. That’s because we have too many checks and balances being applied the wrong way, another bi-product of a big bloated government.
Great ideas in government can fall victim to many things. For example it may threaten the status quo (balance of partisan power). Can’t do that. Or it exceeds our risk tolerance (comfort zone), you can’t do that. It threatens too many jobs within the bureaucracy; you can never do that! It challenges the deeply held positions of entrenched lawmakers. Can’t do that either. Or too may people want to take credit for it and so they must add in their thoughts to the point that the original great idea comes back as a complex tangle of mediocrity.
The collective intelligence of government will never exceed that of the individual’s and chances are you’ll consistently be able to out-think government. Here’s your frustration folks – welcome to big government where the insiders are rewarded for being dumb rule followers and chastised for being bright and creative. And that’s my theory why something government did this week probably really ticked you off!