Posted by
Andrews on Sunday, April 26, 2009 11:15:15 PM
I stumbled across a very old posts that contained an interesting list of principles I thought would lead to better government. It was a rather rough post, not very polished or fully thought out, but the list is interesting, especially in light of later posts. So, for the sake of those who would not follow links to actually read "
Prelude", let me reproduce the relevant part of the post here:
1. Practice makes perfect - This is one of the two principles behind my
belief in federalism. The more attempts we make at something, the more
likely one will turn out to be right. Or, to put it another way, if we
have many different little governments, odds are good that one of them
will find a way to do things better, while having only one central
government means we are much less likely to stumble upon any
improvements.
2. The smaller the better - This is the other principle behind my
federalist beliefs. The fewer people any unit of government represents,
the more responsive it is, and the more likely it is to represent the
actual interests of those it governs. So, to take advantage of this, I
would like to see as much power as possible given to the smallest
possible unit of government. Of course, taken to the logical
conclusion, this would mean giving as much power as possible to the
individual, and I favor that too. Whenever possible, decisions should
be left to the individual, when that is not possible, the power should
go to the locality first, then the state, and only as a last resort to
the federal government.
3. The right tool for the right job - This rule is my way of expressing
my disagreement with the adage "that government is best which governs
least" or the idea that government is a necessary evil. Government is
not evil, it is a tool, like any other. And like any tool, it is
suitable for some jobs and not others. It should be our goal to use the
state only for those tasks for which it is suitable. The remaining
rules are simply extrapolations upon this general principle.
4. Don't worry about me - I use these words to describe a limitation we
should place on government, but rarely do. The state does have a role
in protecting the individual, but only from outside aggression. The
state does not have any business protecting people from themselves.
There is no need for laws to keep people form making bad decisions, it
is the right of any individual to make decisions with which no one else
agrees.
5. I'll do it myself - This rule should be observed whenever we must
decide whether or not the state should undertake a specific action. If
something can be done privately, whether saving for retirement or
deciding whether a doctor is competent or not, we should always favor
allowing the individual to do it rather than the state.
6. None of your business - Individuals should be free to interact any
way they wish without the state being involved. Sometimes this may
displease one or more, and some may have their feelings hurt or their
wishes thwarted, but that still doesn't mean the state should be
involved. Basically, unless there is a violation of rights, or some
extremely compelling state interest, the state should simply stay out
of it.
7. Out of my way - If we observed all the other rules, this would be
superfluous. But as we already have some very bad laws, and as we won't
always make the right decisions, I added this one. My thought was,
whenever we have a choice what to do, it almost always favors the
individual and society as a whole, for us to have less state
involvement rather than more. More often than not, the best thing the
state can do is get out of the way.
What makes this interesting is that I generated a different list several months later, a much more well thought out list in my post "
My Vision of Government". The interesting thing is how similar the two lists are:
1. Privacy - Unless there is a good reason for government to be involved, it shouldn't be
2. Universality - Unless there is a very good reason
to distinguish one person, one product or one transaction from another,
all must be treated the same.
3. Delegation - The government has rights only because citizens delegate it to act on their behalf. It has no rights an individual does not.
4. Inalienability - Deputizing the government does not
strip an individual of any rights, he still retain his rights even
while the government acts as deputy.
5. Narrowness - All government should be as narrowly
empowered as possible. The government should have no more power than
necessary, and that power should be granted to as small a division of
government as necessary.
6. Proximity - This really is just an elaboration on
narrowness. Government should operate as close to the citizens as
possible. A decision should be on a town or locality basis, unless it
must be on a state level. And on a state level unless it must be
national.
Oddly enough, when I wrote the second list, I had completely forgotten about the first. In fact, until today when I stumbled upon it, I don't think I had thought about the first post since I wrote it. Yet, looking back, it holds up quite well, and, even if subconsciously, seems to have had quite an influence on later posts such as "
The Benefits of Federalism", "
The Endless Cycle of Intervention", "
An Analogy For Government" and, quite obviously "
My Vision of Government" and "
My Vision of Government Part II". Even as recently as "
Government's Abusive Behavior", just posted yesterday, I can see some of the ideas expressed in this list.
Not really much more to say about it, I just thought it was an interesting perspective, and one which deserved to be brought back from the obscurity in which old posts often languish.