The road to hell has many subcontractors

Russ Roberts of George Mason University hits the nail on the head with a thought-proving piece that identifies an intrinsic issue that arises when government moves to increase its role in the daily lives of its citizenry.

Writing at Café Hayek, Roberts pinpoints the inherent problem as one of motives versus results.

Those within the government may seek to do good through enhanced regulation and many may truly believe they are indeed doing good so, but the simple fact is that government is nearly always operated by those who can’t possibly have knowledge or information regarding the “needs, desires or dreams” of the average individual, Roberts states.

Government, therefore, is basing its decisions on an imperfect understanding of the lives of those it seeks to further regulate.

In fairness, Roberts adds, government officials can’t be expected to know the dreams, desires and needs of each and every individual. In many cases, a single person’s friends and family don’t even fully have such an understanding.

The real difficulty arises when government busybodies couch efforts to regulate the lives of its citizenry as an exercise in virtue.