STATISM

A statist is someone who believes the government should have a large and prominent role in human affairs. They believe the state to be supreme, or at the least, mandatory for solving society’s problems. Both liberals and compassionate conservatives are statists. Mr. Obama and Mr. Bush are statists. Virtually all members of congress are statists. Our founding fathers were not statists.

Statists believe they can solve today’s economic problems by implementing the policies of John Maynard Keynes. This economist argued that economic downturns must be reversed by aggressive government spending. Little did Keynes know that this narrow advice would expand into a litany of government interventions. Among these were artificially low interest rates, government bailouts, massive government deficits, mortgage guarantees, widespread subsidies, coercion of lenders, gargantuan borrowing, huge trade deficits, credit excess, inflating and dollar debasement.

Our statist leaders are practicing an error. Our monetary and budgetary policies are an attempt to get something for nothing. No good can come from passing out money to a populace that didn’t earn it. The disastrous economic and monetary policies implemented by the government and the central bank have led us to the abyss. Despite the sorry results more of these failed initiatives will be force fed to the country.

Statists never learn. Despite the numerous regulatory failures, they push for more regulation. Despite the colossal behavioral collapse among welfare recipients, they push for more social programs. In spite of soaring medical cost brought on by subsidized healthcare, they push for more costly benefits. Examples like this are endless. When you never bother to analyze the results of your policies, you tend to push for more of the same. Ultimately, statism exhausts the resources of a nation. The country will be in ruins and statists will still not know why.