Government Incompetence

Monty Pelerin / EconomicNoise.com

The current Administration is incredibly inept. It has failed miserably in terms of turning around a terrible economic situation. Indeed, its attempts to do so, assuming these were truly attempts, made matters worse. As a result, we are four or five years into what will eventually be known as The Greater Depression.

Now we have a foreign policy exposed for the folly that it always was. All the apologies and bowing have weakened the US. The Middle East is on fire. Enemies no longer fear us and allies no longer trust us. Ah, but we don’t have a “cowboy” in the White House!

The performance of this Administration has been astounding. Even those who voted against Obama in 2008 could not have imagined that he would have failed to the extent that he has. Our decades-long drift toward Socialism took a quantum leap in his first term. Hopefully, it has jolted Americans from their complacency and provided them the history lesson they never learned in school.

As one moves across the ideological spectrum from right to left, the role of the government expands. To the extreme right, there is no or very limited government. Except for anarchists, no one believes that government does not have some role.

At the extreme left, the government has an all-encompassing role. Except for full-blown socialists, no one believes that government should completely displace private markets. Sadly, that appears to be the vision of our current president.

The first and primary role of any government is defense, both internal and external. Regardless of how much government one ultimately believes to be proper, its raison d’etre is as provider of defense of borders and property rights. The following youtube video presents this well.

When a government cannot perform its primary and most important function, it is unlikely to be able to perform any tertiary functions. The Obama Administration has shown ineptness in virtually everything it has undertaken. Now, it has revealed its ineptness in the one function that virtually all Americans need and agree upon.

It is one thing to tolerate incompetence in areas that are not existential. It is dangerous when ineptness is apparent in the primary purpose of government. Sadly, this Administration appears clueless and disinterested in anything other than pursuing a certain-to-fail ideology. Our enemies will exploit weakness. The uprisings in the Middle East will only encourage such behavior. The US cannot afford to be seen as a “paper tiger.”

Unrest and dissatisfaction as reflected in polls is already unusually high. The so-called “tea party” movement recently outpolled both the Republican and Democrat parties. If suicide bombers start blowing themselves up within this country, it is difficult to imagine how people will then react.

Why are we trying to do all the other things that govenment has expanded into? We have a long track record of failures in such endeavors as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the Postal Service, Amtrack, public education, etc. etc. Should we finally recognize that government does not have all the answers? Perhaps we should wonder whether they have any answers. Is it time to precede all references to government with the adjective “inept?” Or would most citizens already consider that redundant?

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