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Washington: Crackling With Brainy Sacrifice
In a marvelous gesture of ring-kissing, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen takes a look at the various conflict-addled millionaires in the Obama administration, and lectures the nation to start acting more grateful for their noble sacrifice.
In Ronald Reagan's famous formulation, "government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem." This statement, at the very heart of the so-called Reagan Revolution, denigrated government and the people in it. Reagan's statement withdrew John F. Kennedy's invitation to the intellectually gifted to come to Washington and see what they could do for their country. Reagan sent a different message. Government service is for the lame, the cautious. If you really want to do something for your country, shun Washington and make money. It was morning again in America -- whatever that meant.
It is to Barack Obama's immense credit that he has reversed Reagan's reversal. Washington crackles with people on a mission. Brains are once again in vogue, if only because Obama has them in abundance. Not for him the aw-shucks affectation of the previous eight years, when instinct was extolled and ideology trumped analysis. We are in a mess, and one of the reasons is that people who might have noticed or done something about it had been told to stay out of government.
In our scandal-soaked culture, it is de rigueur to denigrate public officials and to search for the inevitable conflict of interest. But here are people, such as [Lawrence] Summers, who have put aside wealth and lavish perks for government service. They have their reasons, sure, but whatever they are, we -- not they -- are the richer for it.
Do you feel richer today, punk?
This whole they're-denigrating-public-servants complaint, a longtime favorite of Bill Maher's, has always struck me as willfully missing at least one important point. A core problem of government ineffectiveness has to do with incentives, and unintended consequences, not necessarily venality and incompetence. The do something mentality of elected officials inevitably leads to crude applications of blunt power, and just as inevitably that power has a tendency to get all mission-creepy, into areas of human existence that no government should really be messing with. And believe it or not, this can happen under Democrats, too.
The Angry Optimist|4.7.09 @ 9:18AM|#
Who is he kidding? I'd like to add to Mr. Welch's point that
people want to live and work in "power centers". It probably makes
Summers all cheery that people are talking about him every day;
that he has a cadre of college-aged sycophants who drink in
Adams-Morgan and brag about how they saw Chuck Schumer and "he said
hi to me and winked".
Some people get off on being obsequious little fucks.
The Angry Optimist|4.7.09 @ 9:19AM|#
In case it needed to be said, I lived in Washington as a kid and have been back multiple times for extended periods of time, and Washington has the worst culture of any major United States city.
|4.7.09 @ 9:20AM|#
it is de rigueur to denigrate public officials
Musn't speak poorly of our betters!
|4.7.09 @ 9:22AM|#
I'm with Pro Libertate. I was already Sartrean nausea this morning anyway, but that is extra-sickening.
|4.7.09 @ 9:28AM|#
why no mention of poplawski here? i would have thought he would get some attention here - he seemed pretty ruggedly individualist and vigilant against encroaching govt power, despite the way the msm has demonized him, and the fact that he lived in his mother's basement. what gives?
|4.7.09 @ 9:41AM|#
They have their reasons, sure, but whatever they are, we --
not they -- are the richer for it.
This is so blatantly retarded as to be humorous, if it weren't so
destructive. I weap for the future.
Conhugeco|4.7.09 @ 9:44AM|#
Plus there is no way half of these guys would be as wealthy as they are without the time spent in "Service" Does anyone think Daschle would have made 5 million bucks without his time spent in generous service?
|4.7.09 @ 9:45AM|#
What an ass clown. I'll never understand how Bush sucking became
proof that Reagan/Thatcher were utter failures.
Also, employees of the state can get bent. I'll never take an
unproductive job on stolen money from my friends and family.
Never.
dhex|4.7.09 @ 9:45AM|#
"They have their reasons, sure, but whatever they are, we -- not
they -- are the richer for it. "
is he for fucking real?
Abdul|4.7.09 @ 9:47AM|#
We are in a mess, and one of the reasons is that people who
might have noticed or done something about it had been told to stay
out of government.
Statements like these are the reason I lean libertarian. The whole
notion that if we can just get smart enough people elected, all
worldly problems will be solved, is hubris that Babylonian tower
builders would find laughable. You see it in campaign rhetoric like
"Now will be the time that the sea levels begin to recede." Jimmy
Carter probably had the highest IQ of any recent US president. Look
where that got his administration.
If Bush's problem was that he dumbed down government (and it's far
from clear that this was the fatal flaw of Bush's administration),
Obama's problem will be that he believes in the fallacious notion
that all the problems of the world just need the world's smartest
president to second guess every decision.
The Angry Optimist|4.7.09 @ 9:47AM|#
Also, employees of the state can get bent. I'll never take
an unproductive job on stolen money from my friends and family.
Never.
Would that be all employees of the state?
|4.7.09 @ 9:50AM|#
What's pathetic is the idea that the problem with unlimited
power is only who is wielding it.
Did Lord Acton stutter?
|4.7.09 @ 9:53AM|#
The sentiment itself is bad enough. What is worse is that they don't even believe it themselves. Dick Chaney gave up being CEO of Haliburton to be VP. I don't hear Cohen talking much about his sacrifice. I guess leaving a multi-million dollar job to go to government is noble except when it is not. Cohen could just save a lot of time and collumn inches and just write "stop picking on people I like". The argument would be shorter, no less persuasive and much less insulting than claiming that we somehow owe Larry Summners the benefit of th doubt because he did us such a big favor by leaving Wall Street.
|4.7.09 @ 9:54AM|#
Brains are once again in vogue, if only because Obama has
them in abundance.
Holy cow.
I predict Listerine sales will go through the roof.
|4.7.09 @ 9:56AM|#
I suppose its worth noting that Reagan qualified his statement.
He didn't mean government is always, everywhere, and at all times
the problem. He was considerably more specific. Its hardly shocking
that the left still doesn't get Reagan, but the right has sort of
forgotten what he was about themselves.
Still, the idea that: getting people who ostensibly don't like
government to run government might not net you the best talent, is
not exactly crazy. However, my POV, the damage was not done by
incompetent fools but rather by very smart people who knew what
they wanted, and who didn't really care about anything or anyone
who thought different.
|4.7.09 @ 9:57AM|#
"Brains are once again in vogue, if only because Obama has them
in abundance."
He is real brainy all right. I hear he speaks Austrian fluently as
well as Mexican and Brazilian and American.
The Angry Optimist|4.7.09 @ 9:57AM|#
Not for him the aw-shucks affectation of the previous eight
years, when instinct was extolled and ideology trumped
analysis.
I must have missed the "analysis" that went behind the belief of
the current White House that crises are things to be exploited for
the expansion of government spending and power.
anarch|4.7.09 @ 9:58AM|#
As that ad for an exposé about Chappaquiddick used to say,
"Every year or so it's healthy to read something that makes your
blood boil."
Any tips on how to begin to make an inroad with
welfare-state liberals?
I recall one astonishing lunchtime encounter I had with a new
genial, intelligent, educated acquaintance, with whom the
conversation turned casually to politics. He said something generic
about a prevailing issue, in a tone that conveyed an assumption of
universal agreement. I responded - innocently, I swear it - with
something like, "Yes, I find it odd that so many people are eager
to enact legislation before they've determined what exactly
government is for." He stared at me as though I'd just
transgressed some profound taboo - "Pass the baby intestines,
please" - and we politely went on to discuss other matters. I never
heard from him again.
How does one start?
|4.7.09 @ 10:04AM|#
Freedom's just another word for 50 different kinds of breakfast
cereal. Glad the guv'mint is up early ever morning irrigating the
fields.
I remember Russia when the people with brains were running
things.
|4.7.09 @ 10:12AM|#
If he wanted to convince me to support people "serving" in the
government, he should have gone with this angle: We need good smart
people on the inside so that the public can have insiders warning
us when they decide to use Executive
Order 11000
or
Executive
Order 11001
Gabe, you workin for the govrn|4.7.09 @ 10:17AM|#
Page Not Found
We cannot locate the page you're looking for. Please check the
address and make sure all letters are lowercased with no spaces.
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Taktix®|4.7.09 @ 10:24AM|#
But here are people, such as [Lawrence] Summers, who have
put aside wealth and lavish perks for government
service.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
HAHAHA!!!
Oh god, I want to die...
|4.7.09 @ 10:25AM|#
anarch,
I live in Massachussetts so I have a lot of experience in waking
these demtards up.
You need to appeal to the naive wholesome goodness that IS within
many socialist. Work them into a frenzy about unjust wars, a
justice system set up to imprison blacks and the military
industrial complexes desire to use the illiterate minorities as
cannon fodder and force minimum wage workers to pay payroll taxes
to General Dynamics.
Once you have worked them into a frenzy, say innocently "and now I
am very afraid that it seems Obama is owned by the same interests,
he has INCREASED the 'faith based' funding. he has announced 50k
troops will be in Iraq permanently, his appointment of Pro-Iraq
war/pro-patriot act Hillary Clinton as secretary of state was
approved by neo-cons universally. The
puzzling admission that theNational
Security Advisor takes orders from Kissinger! is really wierd.
The bailout was backed by Obama and that is clearly just the theft
of trillions by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan...not much different
than the Bush Cheney regime...in fact things seem worse!
|4.7.09 @ 10:30AM|#
sorry, If this was the A-team I'd be Murdoch. hyperlinks
fixed.
Executive Order
11000
Executive Order
11001
Fascitis Necrotizante|4.7.09 @ 10:36AM|#
General tools I've noticed are somewhat effective in
evangelizing among the softheaded left.
1. Promote general skepticism about the government. When people
talk about how great some new government program would be, walk
them through all the potential negative unintended consequences.
People like to seem clued-in and jaded, and even if this doesn't
persuade them of a libertarian worldview, it might just lead them
to a fashionable cynicism which would at least be an improvement
over yeswecan-tardery
2. Emphasize the extent to which excessive regulations hurt the
poor and limit opportunities for entrepreneurial activity. This
kind of thing is what eventually moved me rightward.
Art-P.O.G.|4.7.09 @ 10:38AM|#
How does one start?
Well, to be fair, your name is anarch*. He probably thought you
were one of those wild-eyed, petard-chucking anarchists.
*I'm kidding. I'm sure you don't go by anarch in real life...or
do you?
|4.7.09 @ 10:40AM|#
Well at least the relvoving door between the profit seeking
private sector and the noble selfless bureaucrats nah
public sercants nah overlords* in government
has been closed by The Chosen One.
* Much better. Accuracy in commenting is something I strive
for.
Kreel Sarloo|4.7.09 @ 10:55AM|#
The puzzling admission that the National Security Advisor takes orders from Kissinger!
I think it was a joke, Gabe.
Not a very good one, mind you. Especially when one considers how
much influence the evil bastard still has.
Yes, I do believe that in a world controlled by an omnipotent just
and merciful God, Henry Kissinger would be serving out a prison
sentence from which he would never be released alive instead
collecting gazillions of dollars from the people he "advises." But
since he's not, I remain an agnostic.
But no, I don't believe he still the universe through the CFR.
Kreel Sarloo|4.7.09 @ 10:56AM|#
But no, I don't believe he still controls the universe through the CFR.
T|4.7.09 @ 11:04AM|#
Executive Order 11000
Executive Order 11001
Executive Orders 11000 and 11001. Signed February 16, 1962.
Revoked by EO 11490, October 28, 1969.
EO 11490, revoked by EO 12656, November 18, 1988.
EO 12656, amended by EO 13074, February 9, 1998; EO 13228, October 8, 2001; EO 13286, February 28, 2003
So, I'm just not going to worry about a 47 year old revoked
executive order. Find the text of 12656, as amended, and get
back to me on whether or not I should be paranoid, thanks.
|4.7.09 @ 11:10AM|#
T,
You must be one of the insiders who is going to watch this and let
us know if anything changes. Thanks for your public service.
|4.7.09 @ 11:12AM|#
Competence in government is one thing. A philosophical stance on
how "big" government should be is another. I'm sure we can all
agree that it's better to have competent people in government than
not.
Just because Reagan gave lip service to smaller government doesn't
mean it was anything more than lip service. Republicans get way too
much credit for merely saying the right things rather than doing
anything to prove they believe in the principles.
This article's argument seems to amount to: those libruls are too
smart for their own good. They might overreach.
Well that sounds better than having idiots and zealots in charge,
while still overreaching.
|4.7.09 @ 11:18AM|#
those libruls are too smart for their own good.
That is definitely *not* what I believe.
|4.7.09 @ 11:21AM|#
It amazes me how people confuse intelligence with wisdom. You want the wisest leader not necessarily the smartest one. Issac Newton was probably the most intelligent man who has ever lived. But, the man had little understanding of human relations and was generally petty and nasty to everyone around him. Newton, for all of his epic intelligence is the last person you should want anywhere near a position of authority. History is replete with fabulously intelligent people who did immense damage. Just because you are smart, doesn't mean you understand how the world actually works or have any business in a position of authority.
|4.7.09 @ 11:21AM|#
Complete this sentence:
Competence in government is one thing.
Incompetence in government is a sure thing
|4.7.09 @ 11:22AM|#
I think the breadth and scope of liberal overreach is what's
frightening. The right, for all its myriad faults, usually has a
narrower scope of overreach. Though Bush and the last GOP-dominated
Congress tried to change that.
Without even the rhetorical protection of thinking that the economy
shouldn't be controlled by government and that limited government
is a goal in and of itself, the current iteration of the Democratic
Party is supremely dangerous to our future. Of course, with either
party in charge, the expansion of federal power seems to be a
foregone conclusion.
I certainly don't see the liberal worldview as intellectually sound
or very concerned with reality. In fact, the whole idea that the
left is somehow more intelligent than the right is laughable. You
have to be seriously deficient in intelligence or hopelessly
dominated by emotional biases to have much faith or lend much
support to either party or doctrine.
BPC|4.7.09 @ 11:22AM|#
"But here are people, such as [Lawrence] Summers, who have put
aside wealth and lavish perks for government service. They have
their reasons, sure, but whatever they are, we -- not they -- are
the richer for it."
Yup, old Larry sure has sacrificed for the good of the
country.
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/04/05/business/econwatch/entry4920261.shtml
|4.7.09 @ 11:25AM|#
I'm sure we can all agree that it's better to have competent
people in government than not.
Uhh...no. "Competent" people can do far more damage. What most of
us here can agree on is that limiting the ability of the people in
government to do stuff is what's going to be better. Then
"competence" is much less of an issue.
|4.7.09 @ 11:32AM|#
Probably my biggest frustration as a libertarian is how people
refuse to see that narrowly defining the structure of government is
the best way to protect us from tyranny, not wishing that the next
emperor will be better than this one or with the "correct"
party.
A great system is one where Caligula could be elected president,
and it wouldn't affect our liberties one iota, because he'd lack
the power to do anything awful.
|4.7.09 @ 11:35AM|#
"I'm sure we can all agree that it's better to have competent
people in government than not."
The great German general Von Manstein said there were four kinds of
officers
Smart and hard working who were good for staff work
Smart and lazy who were good for management and strategic
thinking
Dumb and lazy who because they were lazy didn't do much damage and
could fill low jobs
Dumb and hardworking who are because of their stupidity and hard
work incredibly damaging to an organization and must be ruthlessly
eliminated.
I think BO and most of his earnest liberal followers fall into the
4th group. They are hard working and earnest but are so in pursuit
of a horribly mistaken cause and ideology.
|4.7.09 @ 11:36AM|#
They have their reasons, sure, but whatever they are, we --
not they -- are the richer for it.
Odd, then, that nobody ever seems to leave a politically-appointed
office worse off than they were before.
I believe, Mr. Cohen, that in fact they, not we, are the richer for
their service.
Old Lace|4.7.09 @ 11:37AM|#
Any tips on how to begin to make an inroad with
welfare-state liberals?
Arsenic might be a good start.
|4.7.09 @ 11:44AM|#
"I'm sure we can all agree that it's better to have competent
people in government than not."
Replace the word "people" with "Caligulas" and you will see that
not many here agree with you.
Judging by your statements it seems that you think Americans are
far too educated and intelligent to ever elect anyone as evil as
Caligula?
If so, then please tell me more about how smart and politically
sophisticated the populace of this country has gotten. Can you at
least admit that our worries have some validity. Hitler came to
power in a democracy. Are you one of those who believes the German
DNA is inferior to the American DNA in terms of our ability to pick
benevolent leaders?
bubba|4.7.09 @ 11:55AM|#
It should not be a surprise that Government employees are
selected for a belief that Government intervention is
important.
Who is going to dedicate the effort to getting elected/appointed to
an office that they don't think should be really, really busy?
Naga Sadow|4.7.09 @ 11:58AM|#
Pro Lib,
I see we are forgetting Lord Humungous. You saw his platform
yesterday. Do you really think silly things like constitutional
limits would stop him? I think not.
|4.7.09 @ 12:02PM|#
This really is the best part:
"Not for him the aw-shucks affectation of the previous eight years,
when instinct was extolled and ideology trumped analysis."
Apart from the contradiction in this statement (Which one was it
that ruled the past eight years, instinct or ideology?), which
particular rigid ideology did the Bush administration adhere to,
that is now being swept away by the refreshing, ideology-free
analysis of the Obama administration? Points will be deducted for
using "neocon".
anarch|4.7.09 @ 12:04PM|#
don't go by anarch in real life...or do you?
Professor of Economics delivers long, abstruse lecture, at the end
of which he takes questions from the audience.
Student: "Professor, that was ingenious, but would you tell us what
it has to do with reality?"
Professor: "Ah, reality. Reality is a special case."
Good tip, Gabe, thanks. Probably better than by torpedo
approach.
|4.7.09 @ 12:07PM|#
Washington crackles with people on a mission.
Why is this feel to be supreme antonym of "comforting news"?
Taktix®|4.7.09 @ 12:09PM|#
Judging by your statements it seems that you think Americans
are far too educated and intelligent to ever elect anyone as evil
as Caligula?
IIRC, Caligula was pretty good when he first started, but became
terrible after getting some illness or having a nervous breakdown
or something.
Point being, elected officials are like a box of shit-filled
chocolates...
Taktix®|4.7.09 @ 12:09PM|#
Who is going to dedicate the effort to getting
elected/appointed to an office that they don't think should be
really, really busy?
*raises hand*
|4.7.09 @ 12:14PM|#
The right, for all its myriad faults, usually has a narrower
scope of overreach. Though Bush and the last GOP-dominated Congress
tried to change that.
One thing we have to remember:
Any time someone on the left tries to denigrate small-government
conservatism and then uses Bush as proof that it doesn't work needs
to be stopped in his
or her tracks with the following scream: BUSH WAS NOT A SMALL
GOVERNMENT CONSERVATIVE!!
Followed by listing all the big-government actions he took:
1) Nation building in Iraq and Afghanistan (liberals would have
meerly replaced Iraq with Sudan)
2) Medicare prescription drugs
3) No Child Left Behind
4) Steel tariffs
5) Stimulus 2007
6) Bailout 2008
7) Bailing out GM/Chrysler
8) Farm subsidies
etc.
Bush ran as a "compassionate" conservative which turned out to be
code for big-government liberal who cuts taxes, but raises
spending.
Libertarians and either/or fal|4.7.09 @ 12:39PM|#
It's nice to see that Libertarians are still talking, and
talking, and talking. Oh, and mislabeling arguments, in order to
have some kind of target to shoot out.
Them snazzy liberals might call it "projecting," but I just call it
having nowhere left to go.
"Who is going to dedicate the effort to getting elected/appointed
to an office that they don't think should be really, really
busy?
*raises hand*"
Which is exactly why ranting online is the only thing that
Libertarians will ever actually accomplish.
"Bush as proof that it doesn't work needs to be stopped in his or
her tracks with the following scream: BUSH WAS NOT A SMALL
GOVERNMENT CONSERVATIVE!!"
Yeah, and everyone's been doing Communism wrong as well. The irony
is lost on you.
Come on ladies, you ooze disaffection like Ayn Rand oozed
self-delusion. Or is it the other way around?
I will say this, you're the most entertaining group of shiftless
ideologues that I have ever come across. You're delightful
antagonists when you're actually saying something, and a hoot to
pick apart when you're in bitter housewife mode (most of the
time).
T|4.7.09 @ 12:41PM|#
*raises hand*
I'll vote for you. But then again, I vote for all kinds of deranged
lunatics who don't get elected.
|4.7.09 @ 12:57PM|#
I will say this, you're the most entertaining group of
shiftless ideologues that I have ever come across.
Awesome. Drink?
Cool Cal|4.7.09 @ 12:57PM|#
Hey Matt,
Why don't you go on Bill Maher's show. I'd love to see that.
Really, it would be nice to see someone on the opposition who isn't
a boorish, inarticulate hack - maybe give Billy boy a real
challenge for once.
|4.7.09 @ 1:00PM|#
Drink? Hell yeah. In fact, have two drinks, you shiftless, yet entertaining, ideologue.
|4.7.09 @ 1:00PM|#
John raised agood point at 9:53am.
The Bush Administration was full of people who gave up cushy jobs
to "serve". Cheney (as noted), Paul O'Neil, Rumsfeld, Hank Paulson
and plenty at the Asst and Dep Sec level too.
What seems to have soared right over Richard Cohen's head is that
every administration is filled to the brim with selfless
servants of the public interest. And every one of them is convinced
that the public interest and the interests of him and his friends
are identical.
And in so thinking they are merely showing their humanity not their
venality.
Taktix®|4.7.09 @ 1:06PM|#
Really, it would be nice to see someone on the opposition
who isn't a boorish, inarticulate hack...
The only non-liberals Bill Maher has on his show are boorish,
inarticulate hacks. That probably explains his "friendship" with
Ann Coulter.
I did enjoy Religiolous, however...
|4.7.09 @ 1:08PM|#
Newton was elected to parliament.
He also was Warden of the Royal Mint. An important post back in the
day.
Gilbert Martin|4.7.09 @ 1:13PM|#
"Reagan's statement withdrew John F. Kennedy's invitation to the
intellectually gifted to come to Washington and see what they could
do for their country."
Intellectually gifted, eh?
Let's see some proof of that.
alan|4.7.09 @ 1:21PM|#
In case no one noticed, 'conserved observer' is back. You can
tell by the tone. Anyone miss that?
Quite an anachronistic one now, but you certainly recall it. The
piss and vinegar of the liberal hacks validated in their beliefs
with one successful election cycle. That obnoxious tone that was
all too common between Nov '08 and Jan '09, but now strangely
silent.
It is as if CO took a nap right after Christmas and just woke up
not realizing what everyone else realizes, the Democrats have
royally fucked themselves over with Obama.
What a naive little shit.
JB|4.7.09 @ 1:25PM|#
Once Obama fully runs this country into the ground, it will be
open season on fucks like Cohen.
And we know that little bitch doesn't have a gun.
|4.7.09 @ 1:34PM|#
The only silver lining I see in the Obamanation, is that liberalism will be so thoroughly discredited that it will take a century to recover. On the other hand, FDR buggered the economy for over a decade and wound up being our national saint.
|4.7.09 @ 1:43PM|#
Just what we need, another "Brain Trust" to stretch this depression out another decade or two.
Cool Cal|4.7.09 @ 2:17PM|#
I'd also like to say that the idea that stating "government is the problem" is equivocal to saying, "government should be run by doddering boobs" is an intellectually dishonest misrepresentation. He is conflating two totally separate arguments. Reagan had plenty of bright minds in his orbit, and valued experts - just not the kind men like Cohen happen to agree with. It's absurd to imply a leap from smaller government and free market enterprise to fetishising stupidity in public servants (and by Cohen's insane implication, everyone else). Apparently, "Brains are once again in vogue", Cohen thinks that idiocy was prized as an asset during the Reagan years. So apparently, Cohen believes that a prerequisite for running a successful business is to be a dolt. What a douche.
|4.7.09 @ 2:49PM|#
Apparently, "Brains are once again in vogue", Cohen thinks
that idiocy was prized as an asset during the Reagan
years.
Actually, I think Cohen commits the common fallacy of believing
that intelligence = agrees with me.
anarch|4.7.09 @ 3:06PM|#
see that Libertarians are still talking, and talking, and talking.
What other activity is expected to be in evidence on a
blog?
ranting online is the only thing that Libertarians will ever actually accomplish.
'Tis many a true word slips out from betwixt false teeth:
The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
~ John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) General Theory of
Employment (1936; 1947 ed.) ch. 24
Taktix®|4.7.09 @ 3:11PM|#
On the other hand, FDR buggered the economy for over a
decade and wound up being our national saint.
He was still a philandering cripple. There, I said it...
|4.7.09 @ 4:33PM|#
Sometimes even the public servant's spouse must give up a lucrative job in order to serve. This particular woman gave up a $300,000 per year no-show job when her husband choose to serve his country. Truly inspirational!
|4.7.09 @ 4:35PM|#
One more time, with linky fixed...
Sometimes even the public servant's spouse must give up a lucrative
job in order to serve. This particular woman gave up a $300,000 per
year no-show job when her husband choose to serve his country.
Truly inspirational!
Liberty NE|4.7.09 @ 9:08PM|#
The only smart thing about getting a government job is that it
pays better and demands less of people. (US Marines excluded)
If bureaucrats had any decency, drive, and/or courage, they would
leave government for the private sector.
|4.8.09 @ 3:17AM|#
If bureaucrats had any decency, drive, and/or courage, they
would leave government for the private sector.
Many of them would starve, too. :-)
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