By what insane calculation is a congressional candidate more representative of society than an entrepreneur, a corporate director, or a taxicab driver?
I am sharing Cafe Hayek's Professor Don Boudreaux quote of Steve Landsburg’s 1997 book, Fair Play (original emphasis) page 35
This quote reminds me of a popular and controversial media personality who recently said in a radio show that for a particular case, he only helps retired public officials because they have done “public service” to society and won’t do the same for civilians.
The announcer seem to have forgotten that that the food he eats comes from the private sector, the clothes he wears comes from the private sector, the car he drives comes from the private sector, the mobile phone he uses comes from the private sector, the microphone and sound system he uses to air his self-righteous junk comes from the private sector, the bed he sleeps on comes from the private sector…practically everything he does (directly and indirectly—even government roads may have been subcontracted to the private sector or at least sources their raw materials from the private sector) comes from the private sector which he so belittles.
And what of public officials? Public officials live off from the resources generated by the private sector to supposedly do some “public service” which in reality the private sector can provide. In short, public officials exists because of the private sector from whom the former forcibly extracts resources from the latter.
In the world of politics, what is self-evident can hardly be seen. Moreover, people are seduced to noble sounding economic naiveté themes, as well as, to morally bankrupt idea of collectivism (nationalism) or to the servitude to the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment