New at Reason.com: Five Reasons Why Libertarians Shouldn't Hate Government

January 13, 2010

The authors of the new book If We Can Put a Man on The Moon... make the case that if libertarians want to shrink the size and scope of government, they need to figure out the ways in which government can succeed at the tasks with which it is legitimately charged. William Eggers and John O'Leary write,

Incessant government-bashing may make you feel good, but alienates most everybody who knows and loves a police officer, firefighter, teacher, social worker, anyone who has ever collected an unemployment check, and anyone who saw NASA put a man on the moon.

In the short term, a philosophy of “government never works” might sell to the base but it’s not an effective strategy for building a broad-based electoral coalition or actually governing. Voters won’t trust people who hate government with the keys to City Hall.

Plus: Five Big-Government Disasters and Five Mega-Projects That Went Well.

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