The depressing part is that these conclusions push you to the kinds of public choice premises that Gordon and Tullock harvested to reactionary effect. I saw that a couple of years ago Adam Przeworski published a book on political economy that pushes public choice in a different direction. Anyone know anything about it?
Michael McIntyre mcintyremichael at mac.com
"Il n'est pas facile d'affranchir ceux qui vénèrent leurs chaînes." --Voltaire
On Dec 20, 2007, at 9:21 AM, Wojtek Sokolowski wrote:
>
>
> [WS:] Yes, ideed. I was sitting on a DC metro today
> morning, spacing out & gazing at a poster of some law
> school beaming an upbeat message about public interest
> lawyers. It suddenly struck me that there is no
> public interest in the US - the closest to it that
> this country ever had was the post World War 2
> militarism that you mention in your posting.
>
> Unlike most European countries where governments are
> institutional guardians of public interest, the sole
> raison d'etre of the USG is the protection of property
> and financial interests of the business class and
> providing contracting opportunities for the
> well-connected members of that class. Public interest
> is served only accidentally, inasmuch as it coincides
> with the interests of the business class. An indedd
> it is in the interest of the business class to keep
> its chattel in a relatively good shape to maintain its
> productive and consuming potential.
>
> I also realized that the problem of reformers,
> idealists, activists, "bleeding hearsts," radicals,
> etc. is the delusion that there is such as a thing as
> public interest in Amerika and that interest will be
> served if only "we" (whoever that is) do the "right
> thing" - i.e. vote for the right candidate,
> "organize" the right event, "mobilize" the right
> people, think the right thoughts, say the right
> things, etc.
>
> This is at the roots of moral indignation at
> "treacherous" Democrats, venal power elites,
> inadequate public services, injustice of the criminal
> justice system, stupidity of the media, etc. Such
> indignation is a preamble to the call for action to
> restore Amerika to its "true" self and free it from
> the corruptiong inmfluences of power elites,
> governments, corporations, etc.
>
> However, if one drops the delusion that there is such
> as thing as public interest in Amerika, all that
> critique, moral indignation and activism becomes
> pointless. Just like it does not make sense to reform
> wolves or lions so they stop killing Bambis - it does
> not make sense trying to reform Amerikan institutions
> to act in public interest. In both cases, this would
> be against the nature of the beast.
>
> This realization has a kathartic effect, at least on
> me. I stopped reacting emotionally to the constant
> barrage of bad news reporting thoughts and behavior of
> Bush, USG officials, corporate bosses, social
> problems, opinions of pundits etc. - and I started
> viewing it the way I view nature shows depicting
> things that normally would make me cringe, such as
> lions eating Bambis, seals devouring penguins, sharks
> attacking seals, or for that matter, my cats killing
> mice and birdies, etc. These creatures merely do what
> is in their nature, and ther is nothing I or anyone
> else can do short of exterminating all lions, seals,
> sharks and kitties - which would be even more
> horrific.
>
> This is an act of alienating onself - or detachment
> from the entrapments and delusions of life in Amerika.
> Amerika is what it has always been, a land of
> opportunity, getting rich quickly at public expense,
> and sanctimonious self-righteousness in the service of
> private profits. Nothing less, nothing more. One can
> either be a part of it, or stay out and view it as we
> view wild beasts devouring their prey - as alien
> observers watching it from a distance and abstaing
> from any intervention into this process on the pain of
> utmost futility and frustration of such intervention,
> if not becoming the prey (or predator).
>
> Wojtek
>
>