When you think of a government agency or the goverment in general, do you have in the back of your mind the image of slow moving dim witted sloth . An animal that moves at a deliberate pace and is going no where fast. And do you cringe when you have to interface with one of these entities. Knowing full well that efficient and prompt service are foreign to the federal entities that control so much of your time and energy and treasure.They have rigid rules to follow and cannot deviate from a protocol developed by consensus of other government workers.
By the threat of violence ( you broke the law if you don't comply), you are commanded to apply for a license to drive your car and travel on highways you have paid for. If you pay tribute to the goverment, you can break the law with no consequences. This is similar to indulgences bought from the early church that would allow you to sin without guilt or penalty. ( pay as you go, drive thru please ).
Ludwig Von Mises identified “slowness and slackness” as among the inherent features of government bureaucracy that no reform can remove. Mises analyzed these tendencies and incentives in his 1944 book "Bureaucracy"
Moses does not judge or condemn the process of bureaucracy vs capitalism, but his description of the difference is compelling and relevant to this day.
"The real bosses, in the capitalist system of market economy, are the consumers. They, by their buying and by their abstention from buying, decide who should own the capital and run the plants. They determine what should be produced and in what quantity and quality. Their attitudes result either in profit or in loss for the enterpriser. They make poor men rich and rich men poor. They are no easy bosses. They are full of whims and fancies, changeable and unpredictable. They do not care a whit for past merit. As soon as something is offered to them that they like better or that is cheaper, they desert their old purveyors. With them nothing counts more than their own satisfaction. They bother neither about the vested interests of capitalists nor about the fate of the workers who lose their jobs if as consumers they no longer buy what they used to buy." Ludwig Von Mises
So, back to the bureaucracy. When was the last time you remember a government worker worrying about getting his/her paycheck. Once a process is funded, it never shrinks nor goes away. It is perpetual thorn in the side of the taxpayer.
It is illegal to drive on a public street unless you pay for this indulgence. ( a drivers permit) It is illegal to marry in most states. (Unless you pay for license that will absolve you of this crime). Many trades are prohibited and illegal unless you pay for a license that will make these actions legal. (plumbing, a/c, electrical, barber, hairdresser). Lending and borrowing of most any asset is highly regulated. So, do you sometimes wonder what the document ( our Declaration of Independence ) means when we say "we aspire to live our life in liberty and The pursuit of Happiness"?
Are we really free and do we have the independence guaranteed by the sacrifice of life and loss of treasure that was freely given to throw off the chains of an overbearing and disinterested government ?
After all these years we have devolved to a society ruled by fear of the Government. If you wear a mask you are are a hero. If you don't wear a mask, you are a threat to the common good and should be shunned and punished. If you drive a car that uses gasoline, you should be punished and shamed. If you disagree with actors and government employees that have never missed a paycheck you are considered dangerous and a threat to our nation. If you want to raise your children in the way you learned from your parents ( faith, honor, duty, loyalty ) then you may be a domestic terrorist.
Once the control of an action or a process is appropriated by the Government; you will pay hell and high water to have that freedom returned to the people. Once a freedom is relinquished or taken by force; this government task or process will take on new attributes such as being slow and non responsive and costly vs fast, inexpensive, and price/value driven.
Tell me again if our government is responsive and caring of the sacrifices given freely by our founders. Where does this promise (spoken over 150 years ago) fit in?
A government of the people, by the people, for the people. ( Abraham Lincoln) Where has this government gone to?
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