I dont agree with this article in the Guardian UK (referred by Policy Library), but it raises questions that people like me (who oppose command and control liberalism, but claim to still be liberals) have got to deal with.
Dammit, just what I need, having my face rubbed in my own contradictions
Thanks for the link to that article. Interesting stuff. I think one of the other issues the author raises only indirectly is the issue of local resources, from an experience/knowledge perspective.
Years ago, I was on a panel that was trying to get at the root causes of an inexplicably high local infant mortality rate. We were putting together grant proposals, bringing together “community leaders” to discuss the issue, doing surveys, etc., but really, none of us had the technical skills to do the analysis of the problem. We were all earnest and interested in solving the problem, but when it came down to what we could *actually* accomplish, we were really spinning our wheels.
Yes, the states are the laboratories of the nation, and, I suppose, cities, towns and counties are the laboratories of the states (and, of course, all politics is local), but, in some cases, the further down the responsibility devolves, the more the experiments look like throwing together a bunch of chemicals and hoping you don’t blow up your garage.
One of Walker’s problems is his implicit assumption that bad ideas and evil men will somehow get filtered out before they reach the center.
Why, yes, there will be injustice locally, there will be inequality nationally. Walker implies, however, that it is better that all be treated equally unjustly, than that some receive justice whilst other do not.
Ross, do you mean to imply that you think a committee in Washington would have had a better handle on your local infant mortality? Or even considered the local conditions?
>> but, in some cases, the further down the responsibility devolves, the more the experiments look like throwing together a bunch of chemicals and hoping you don’t blow up your garage.
And, in other cases, the higher up the responsibility devolves, the more experiments look like throwing together a bunch of chemicals and hoping you don’t blow up your garage.
The “center” is different from the edges and innards in only three ways:
(1) It gets to draw resources from a greater area (which means that those areas have fewer resources and that it gets targetted by all of the power-seekers)
(2) as it goes, so goes most everyone
The Russians suffered to teach us that the planners fail, that diversity in solution is good. Does anyone really think that the US govts are any better?