The Limitations of Good Intentions
By Raheem Williams
“Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.” — Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman
There’s a popular yet naive belief that good intentions produce good results in public policy. Advocates of varying forms of socialism truly believe the only good thing standing between them and the magical potential of the state are those pesky conservatives. They see themselves as the good in the never-ending battle against the selfish American conservative. However, the reality is very different.
America is one of the most philanthropic developed nations on earth. Despite being frequently mischaracterized as greedy, conservatives give more than their liberal peers. The American right has little to no objections to helping the less fortunate. Conservatives and libertarians alike openly question the methods in which the government seeks to help the poor. This critical approach to seemingly benevolent policy objectives is often mistaken for hate towards the beneficiaries of said policies, this just isn’t true. The adherents of limited government believe the best system of social support is work and family. The political right believes thriving private enterprise creates the opportunities needed to reduce poverty and human suffering. These ideas are often debated but they are not without merit.
Those on the right fear leftist may place more of an emphasis on goodwill than good results. This alone is a recipe for disaster. The American leftist willfully ignores the lessons of history or subscribe to some highly revised version of it. They ignore the fact that Mao’s great leap forward was originally a plan to usher in a new equitable industrial society, but instead tens of millions starved to death. They gloss over the first Soviet famine (there were multiple) which was originally a government plan to ensure the equitable distribution of food.
The political left seems to develop amnesia in regards to the amazing compassion for the poor Hugo Chavez proclaimed or the fact that his socialist revolution was initially DEMOCRATIC before turning into full-blown authoritarianism. The American left ignores the role price controls on goods and wages played in exacerbating poverty and human suffering in Venezuela and everywhere else they’ve been implemented. Not only are these gross failures of government ignored, but the same failed policies are often championed stateside in calls for minimum wage hikes and more rent control. The American leftist likes to present these ideas as worldly and innovate, but really it’s just lipstick on a pig.
The aforementioned are just a few examples of world leaders using the empathy of voters to amass power and create mass suffering. Compassion is nice, but it doesn’t feed the masses, profitable private enterprise does. This is true in Sweden and America. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help the poor, the troubled and the weak. It’s just a simple reminder that the road to hell is often paved with good intentions. There’s a substantial risk associated with experimenting with the livelihoods of millions, nordic outcomes are not guaranteed.
