"Six Political Illusions"
July 12, 2011
George Leef reviews James L. Payne's book, Six Political Illusions: A Primer on Government for Idealists Fed Up with History Repeating Itself. It sounds like I need to read this.
Although opinion polls show that a large majority of the population is fed up with the government, most think we must continue to rely on it for a wide array of “services.” They just want better politicians in charge. Those people aren’t stupid; they’re under the spell of the following illusions:
• The Philanthropic Illusion: the idea that government has money of its own.
• The Voluntary Illusion: the impulse to want to believe that government action is not based on force.
• The Illusion of the Frictionless State: the idea that the State can transfer resources with negligible overhead cost.
• The Materialistic Illusion: that money alone buys public-policy results.
• The Watchful Eye Illusion: the idea that the government has greater knowledge and wisdom than the public.
• The Illusion of Government Preeminence: the belief that the government is the only problem-solving institution in society.