This weekend I was listening to Fareed Zakaria on GPS @CNN (a program that I love) and he mentioned another aspect of government that I hadn’t covered in my post on “In Defense of Government”
His point was that we look towards our government to avoid catastrophes – and he mentioned this in respect to the climate crisis.
What really got me thinking was – this is a crucial and very under appreciated function. Essentially if the government is successful in averting the crisis, it is a non event (who remembers the collective action to fix the ozone layer hole in the atmosphere and globally phasing out CFL based coolants in refrigeration), since history does not remember the mundane – and hence the success of the institution is always under appreciated.
While if the government fails spectacularly (for e.g. The World Wars – that’s one for the history books – recounted and studied as a tale of misery and suffering for generations).
So how do we address this inherent bias in human nature – probably by also including our spectacular (although under appreciated) successes in avoiding crisis and a careful meticulous analysis of failure of strategy and policy on disasters – not just a tale of human suffering.
We find “The Government” to be a common punching bag for most folks – politicians and common citizens alike.
Our politicians rail against a corrupt and ineffective government pointing to us the ills of big government and why the regulations imposed by the government are stifling our industry.
There are folks that talk about the deconstruction of an institution that has evolved over centuries of human development. It seems, everyone has an example of some egregious behavior that they use to justify painting the whole institution bad and in need for pruning. And the travesty of the situation is that there is no one standing on the other side defending this vital institution and its usefulness.
So let me take on the defense for the institution called the “Government”, which allows us to cooperate in very large numbers, prescribes and maintains a rule of law and is able to undertake projects at a scale that is impossible/unsustainable for an individual/family or a small group.
Governments came about when humans started gathering into communities. They were three primary reasons to create a government –
Establishing a common benchmark of behavior in society and establish conformance
Achieve scale where an individual/family or small group could not
Making outsize bets in pushing expertise in any domain – agriculture, industry or technology (for e.g. core science) where short or medium term benefits may not justify a rational private investment
Establishing the Rule of Law:
Humans felt the need to create rules for common behavior that all members within a community to adhere to. Anyone not adhering to these rules was given punishments or incarcerations. The institution developed as a checks and balances for keeping civil behavior.
Bringing the Benefits of Scale:
If you look historically, humans formed collectives and villages/towns/cities etc. to take advantage of the power of the collective. There were some projects/endeavors that were beyond the scope of an individual or a small group like a family to accomplish. Hence we humans invented the construct of “The Government” to allow us to cooperate in larger numbers. For e.g. maintaining a military for offense or defense or build roads that are more than point to point connections and useful for the entire community.
Before we assign all the blame to the government and we dismantle it – we also should be willing to give up all the gains achieved by this institution.
Are we ready to give up on our military, or our highways, the internet, the GPS system, antibiotics and miracle drugs we have on the market. All of these are innovations that started as government projects and were then handed over to private enterprise.
I do not discount the criticism leveled by some that there are government agents that take advantage of their power, or even some individuals who are free riders on the rest of society. Yes, you can find bad apples in any group, but let’s not use these examples to discredit the institution and forgo the benefits of having a functioning and effective government.
the internet, the GPS system, antibiotics and miracle drugs we have on the market. All of these are innovations that started as government projects and were then handed over to private enterprise.
