Political Illusions

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Examples of government failure--Federal, state and local--are all around us but are seldom recognized due to our unexamined faith in government. Six Political Illusions, by James L. Payne and published by Lytton Publishing Company in 2010, describes various ways that people have confidence that government is the only problem solver in society (The Philanthropic Illusion, The Voluntary Illusion, The Illusion of the Frictionless State, The Materialistic Illusion, The Watchful Eye Illusion and the Illusion of Government Preeminence). Payne shows that this confidence in government is grossly misplaced and that society's other problem solving mechanism is the "sum of all the individuals and groups working in their diverse ways to make the world around them better." He labels this the "voluntary sphere" which almost always does the job much better. (page 103). Adam Smith called it "the invisible hand"; Hayek's term was "spontaneous order"; if people are expected to deal with issues on their own, voluntary action usually works well. Not perfect, but neither is government action perfect, far from it. And when government regulation is really needed, local is better than state or Federal. Not only does government often not work as well as the voluntary sphere, it frequently makes things worse. Often the intent is what people observe, not the actual result. When a government program doesn't succeed the response is almost always more government spending on that program. Two notable examples of government failure are the Johnson administration "War on Poverty" and the creation of the U.S. Department of Education. Poverty has not been solved and conditions for those in poverty have been worsened, and the education system is much worse than before the department was created. There are hundreds--no doubt thousands--of other examples.

A second Jim Payne book released in 2021 is The Big Government We Love to Hate. Chapter two in this book is titled The Rise of Failurism which deals with the issue of failed government policies but the public's "unexamined attachment to government, a faith that keeps us moving toward ever-bigger government no matter how disappointing the results" (p.27).

Both books are available by contacting joe.woodford@woodfordfoundation.org or calling 719-579-9909.