When the only tool you have is a hammer you tend to see every problem as a nail.
~ Abraham Maslow
This morning I found this quotation from one of my sources that sends them out either in email or RSS feeds. It struck me because it really explains the issue with the US Government attempting to solve every problem, we as a government simply do not have enough tools.
Now I carefully wrote that sentence, and some would believe I used the wrong word, but I did not.
I do not hold any official public office at this time, nor do I really aspire to serve in any capacity other than citizen and potentially adviser to people I believe in and agree with, so how can I really use the word “we”?
“We” stems from the idea that the US system of Government is not a top down, king, emperor, or other traditional form of government; instead the highest decisions … the ultimate power is in the hands of the citizens. If not the citizens, I am willing to go as far as the hands of the legal voters, and realistically that might be a more accurate description, since a portion of people have disqualified themselves from governance through not following the rules or laws. That could be through breaking the law, or as simple as not bringing ID to the voting place if that is the rule or law. What makes the US great is not the Government — the Government is a symptom; it comes out of the greatness that is the USA, the people. We get together and decide. For example, instead of all of us building or maintaining our own roads, the HOA , City, State, or Federal Government will be given the power to do this. Instead of us all going and fighting invaders as individuals or small groups who bind together to protect our neighborhood (or this side of the street), we pay good people with the skill set to lead a military to do just that … it is more economical and efficient.
With all that we have officially said “This is a role of the Government to do” and all that the government has recently said “I give me the power to do this” the failing and major reason that the government cannot and should not solve every problem boils down to the fact that the toolset of any government is limited to just a few tools.
Some people put it this way:
What the US Government or politicians want more of they subsidize, what they want to stop or prevent they tax.
That shows their two fundamental tools:
– taxing – taking money from
– spending – giving money to encourage
There is a third, the rule of might, or force. They do have the police, FBI, CIA, Military to impose their will, but this falls into those two categories of tools and is still limited.
The alternative
There is another group, the group that is bigger and possesses both more brain power and more tools, that attempts to solve problems every day. That is referred to as the private sector.
Free markets, or free-er markets (since by some definitions there are no truly free markets in the US since the US Government has inhibited every market in some way) simply have more people, money, brain power, options, freedom, and simply put — tools for solving problems.
Now here is where it could get interesting, you might be saying or thinking … “Then why has the private sector not fixed all the problems?”
Because the private sector works under this equation:
what is desired = desire filled per customer served X Customers
- What is desired – can be money, an individual or group helped, or even to stop or prevent something from happening
- Customers – simply the iterations or times this action, good, or service is provided
- desire filled per customer served – if profits is the desire, this would be the amount the business/individual gets to keep
Now, based on that, for a problem to be solved by the private sector, or a politician through the government, there has to be a desire and the ability to gain the desire through fixing a problem. For a politician, the desire might be more political capital, or more voter support both for their bigger goals of getting reelected or a building named after them.
In the private sector it is normally translated into money at some point, but the use of that money is the real motivation.
How does the US Government often use the tools? By affecting the ability of people to get what they want. Creating loopholes causes more of the desire to be filled if specific actions are made. Taxes cause less of the desire to be filled for the same amount of action.
The private sector looks at the rules of the game that the US Government passes. Most people call them regulations or tax policy, and then decide “If I, or we, do this, do we expect to get *enough* of what is desired?”
Then the private sector either goes out and uses all the many tools that it possesses, or it does not; the direction, action or inaction, depends on if the expected result is the plant having *enough* profits, the mission helping *enough* people, the river cleanup effort getting *enough* people involved to justify it, or the politician receiving *enough* credit or campaign contributions.
Closing
Since the US Federal Government only has a few tools at their disposal, they look at every issue as either “We need more tools”, more power to the Federal Government, or “We need to go hit some nails.”
This is why every solution out of the US Federal Government is about the same – tax, spend, or shoot.
The only exception is when you have someone who sees the fact that the Government is limited and they either try to increase the number of tools, or let someone better equipped (has more tools) deal with problems, and get what they desire out of it.
Now keep in mind one of the initial points – if you are a registered US voter -> you are a part of the US Government and have a duty and obligation as such.
