The Folly and Presumption of Big Government Social Engineering

Richard Ebeling emails:

Dear Bob,

I have a new article on the news and commentary website, "EpicTimes," on "The Folly and Presumption of Big Government Social Engineering."

The worst disaster to fall upon humanity over the last hundred years has been the "social engineering" mentality, with its presumption that governments have the knowledge, wisdom, and ability to plan the direction and future of society better than and superior to leaving mankind's development to the free interactions and associations of people in the marketplace.

This has been not only in its "extreme" forms such as in Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany, but in our own times in the form of what the French have called "indicative planning," that is, the use of regulations and taxes to "nudge" people in the paths wanted by those in political power.

Two questions arise in the face of the political planners and regulators of our lives: On what moral right to those in government claim the authority to dictate and direct our lives, and on what basis do they assert the capacity to do such social engineering without bringing about outcomes far worse than if the "wisdom of the free market" was given full rein instead?

Neither question, I argue, has been successfully answered by our modern political paternalists and planners.

http://www.epictimes.com/richardebeling/2015/03/the-folly-and-presumption-of-the-social-engineers/

Best,
Richard