The Iron Laws of Liberalism

There is a story--I don't have a cite and maybe it's apocryphal, but it sounds good--that in the old Soviet Union, after something like the 50th consecutive "disappointing" harvest, a Soviet official was asked to explain, and he said "We've had 50 consecutive years of bad weather."

Liberals can't use the weather to explain the disappointments of big government in the U.S.--our country just isn't so dependent on the weather. But they have an alternative that is almost as good. Government works really, really well, if the right people are in charge. Any disappointments or failures are blamed on the imperfections of people in government.

I bring this up because yesterday Paul Krugman explained that Secretary Geithner's plan last week was so disappointing because . . .  he didn't talk to the right people, namely "Joe Stiglitz, Nouriel Roubini, Simon Johnson, etc." (And by "etc." he includes, of course, himself.)

If Iron Law number #1 doesn't work for some reason, there's always Iron Law #2: government would have worked, but evil Conservatives prevented it.

Comments

[bjk]

Like Warren Buffett says, buy only a company even an idiot could run, because eventually an idiot will.

[toad]

After the fall of Soviet Russia,"Communism would have worked there, they just never had enough smart people to run it, too Asiatic."

[JorgXMcKie]

Liberals seem to believe that the "right people" can make government action foolproof. Well, as my grandfather said, "While you're making things foolproof, God is making more ingenious fools."

[Ozornik]

"…50 consecutive years of bad weather"?! – You underestimate the creativity of a do-gooder on a quest for The Excuse. Let me introduce to you prominent modern Russian thinker: Andrei Parshev - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Parshev.
It's a pity there's no English translation – you'd get such a kick reading it…