Every action a person takes in the United States is regulated by the government. Many of these regulations go unnoticed. But think about every action you take, and the bureaucratic agency that is regulating it. From brushing your teeth, to watering your lawn, the government has intruded into your life and regulated every action you take. But how did we end up in a society that has allowed itself to be regulated across the board?
We live in an age where the government fears the people. And rightfully so. They hustle our paychecks, bailout zombie corporations against the wishes of the public, and send our money overseas to pointless causes such as bailouts for Palestinian mortgages. Clearly, this government has taken many actions that are not supported by the people that pay for them.
Many people argue that we are rewarded richly for government pilfering via public schools, defense, and road systems, to name just a few government projects. But many of these services, if not all, could be provided with better quality and cheaper prices through the private sector.
Which leads one to wonder why we never hear privatization advocated by our politicians? Why should people always look to government for solutions to modern day problems such as the BP spill cleanup, instead of privately owned companies that could do the same work better and cheaper?
Wise economists from the Austrian school of thought blame this blind support of government intervention on a phenomenon known as “The People’s Romance”. This phenomenon shows that people are drawn to government in a way that allows that government to take actions that most would object to if they understood what truly free society is. If the average citizen was to closely examine the complete control the government wields over one’s life, investigating the effects of each nanny state regulation, they would most likely object to the amount of power that the government has.
Through “The People’s Romance,” the government consolidates power by controlling focal points in one’s life. People become dependent, so they think, on the plethora of government services that are provided. Government officials exploit the services to win support in elections. Most politicians argue expanding certain services to further consolidate power, but rarely do we see a politician argue privatization of these services. To privatize would mean that the government would lose access to influence every facet of your life.
Currently, “The People’s Romance” is on the rise in America. With the Obama administration’s expansion of power through insane amounts of frivolous spending via “the stimulus” and the complete takeover of the Health Care sector, government influence over one’s life seems to be the only thing growing in 2010. The government would rather hide the fact that they have mired the economy through their incessant, destructive interventions then risk losing the ever expanding control they wield over society that has taken them decades to achieve.
A free society is endangered by “The People’s Romance”. Because of it, many private interactions are lost to public sector interference. We are all worse off because of this.
If we want a society that is free of an encroaching government that impedes individual freedom, we must look to the private sector for answers to today’s problems not to government bureaucrats that are only interested in wetting their beaks with power. We must remember that only the private sector can deliver the results that government has proven time and again it is unable to do (think of TARP, Obama administration job creation as promises of prosperity that never came true). And above all, the private sector removes bad business actors from the market place efficiently while government props them up by bailing them out with your money and the money of future generations. “The People’s Romance” is the government’s tool to buy your support, not to help you out as they like to suggest they are doing.
There is nothing wrong with supporting government. But there is something very wrong with a government that wants to regulate your every action. Don’t let your romantic feelings of government cloud your lens of viewing what Congress and Obama are really after.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.
