No Vacancy

Relax, said the night man,
We are programmed to receive
You can checkout any time you like
But you can never leave
--The Eagles

Mr P shares his concern about the increasing power and influence of government in our lives. He offers a couple of important propositions:

a) The more power given to a central government, the lower the collective wealth.
b) The more power given to a central government, the larger the imbalances.

Mr Practical is not the first to float such claims, which can be tied to supporting empirical evidence. Over 200 years ago, for instance, a large number of American citizens voiced similar concerns about the consequences of big government that would subsequently flow from the Constitution once ratified (Cornell, 1999).

Yet, what are we prone to do in times of distress? Cede even more power to bureaucrats who likely facilitated the crisis.

At some point the potential energy accrued from strains of imbalance will turn kinetic. History suggests that this energy-in-motion will not be pleasant.

References

Cornell, S. 1999. The other founders. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.