The Government Is Just a Referee? Hardly.
• Lew RockwellIt’s common for people to say the government is a referee, whose role
is to enforce the rules in the politico-economic game so that no one
gets an unfair advantage. OK, so the people who say this are typically
eighth-grade civics teachers, the terminally naïve or apologists
for the state. Still, we do hear it. There is some truth in the statement,
but for the sake of accuracy let’s amend the concept a bit and say
that government is a biased referee who protects his friends and influences
the outcome of the game to advance his own agenda. Better?
Examples
of the government taking sides instead of being the impartial guardian
of life, liberty and property are legion, of course. Considering
the federal government here, we see an almost endless list, from
tariffs protecting favored industries (Sugar, anyone?) to tax incentives
that cause malinvestment by encouraging funding of pet sectors (It’s
easy being green these days.) to tax policies that seek to discourage
the use of disfavored goods (Think nuclear power, oil and gas, coal…pretty
much any fuel source that actually works.).
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