Bob Rasmussen, would you care to present some data and facts in support of your argument? I subscribe to small government, not to any one political party. I believe it was the founder of the Democratic Party, Thomas Jefferson who once said, “Government governs best when it governs least.” And nowhere in the presentation by Professor Antony Davies, a political economist, identify political parties. The presentaion was only his explanation of why government behaves the way it does. You could have just as easily switched around the labels (some people, red and green) and the example. For example, instead of an increase in the minimum wage, you could have used an increase in the corn ethanol subsidy, extension of the voting rights law, federal funding for charter schools – you name it. It all works the same. I suspect you are projecting your own views on to his argment. Davies’ s views are shared or are similar to those of many free market, libertarian economists and political philosophers. I can refer you to other sources if you like, but you must approach them with an open mind.
I also challenge you to point to one single government program that has ever worked, no matter who championed it. Just for example, look at the government’s reaction to the pandemic. Three trillion dollars in additional public debt that future generations will pay through inflation, increased taxes and a decline in the value of a dollar (which itself represents a tax on the retirement savings.).
What did we get for that those trillions of dollars? And for what? Hundreds of billions of dollars in misspent funds and the protection of the remaining lifetimes of the elderly (I am 67 myself). Certainly, the politicians like the Governor got public approval for “taking action.” I said at the beginning of this pandemic that Governors and other politicians were in a no-lose position. They get public credit for taking action and if the lethality proves negative, they will get credit for “preventing even more deaths and keeping us safe.” Meanwhile, the economy took a huge hit and many small businesses will not reopen. Youth have lost educational time and summer employment. How many more deaths ocurred because people couldn’t see a doctor or were frightened to see one? What about the deaths resulting from the increase in depression, suicides, addiction? What about the increase in domestic violence? How about the social isolation many seniors felt from being cutoff from friends and family? My mother-in-law is 87 and living in Cordia. She and the other residents have not been allowed to leave, have visitors or even eat together in the main dining room. In some ways, the last 3 months have been like solitary confinement in a prison. I would even go so far as to say that the isolation and idleness may have played a role in amplying (not causing) the protests, violence, looting, etc.of the George Floyd riots.
We don’t even know if COVID was the primary cause of those deaths classified as such because of all the co-morbidities often found in the elderly and the pressure to classify them as COVID-related. How many of those people were already “standing on the edge of the cliff”, only to have COVID push them the last step? Did that last step kill them or was it their thousands of steps (own behavior) that brought them to the cliff in the first place?
How do 100,000+ COVID deaths, whether avoidable or not, stack up against the completely avoidable deaths from lifestyle? According to the CDC and NIH, about 480,000 people will die from smoking-related causes this year, including 47,000 who die, not of their own choosing, but from second hand smoke. Another 300,000 people will die from the efects of obesity. Those two causes dwarf COVID by eight-fold. Where is the public shock and reaction? Why hasn’t the Governor permanently closed all fast food restaurants and banned the sale of bread, alcohol, softdrinks and other carbohydrates? Why are cigarettes not banned from sale in the state?
My stance is not partisan, no matter what you may think. I would say the same things if the Governor were Republican. Government is not the solution and never has been. Government failed again at all levels, as it almost always does, for a myraid of reasons and regardless of who is in power. It is the private sector that will more quickly and more cheapely the solution, I don’t expect things to change and neither should anyone else. The video merely explained how things work in reality, not in theory nor with malelvolent intent.