“In politics there is very little reason to grow less wrong, and sometimes good reason to grow more wrong. In aggregate, this leads to destructive policy choices. This is a structural defect inherent in the political model of decision making. Substituting one political philosophy for another will not eliminate the underlying problem. The problem of politics is, for the most part, not that politics is full of bad people or stupid people; the shocking truth is that politics is full of intelligent, well-meaning people. Often they do things that they know are not the best or smartest move, and usually it is in the belief that by tolerating smaller wrongs they may serve a greater good. When this produces an outcome the public likes, that is called compromise; otherwise it is called hypocrisy, but it is difficult to tell the difference at the margins, and the shamefacedness with which politicians sometimes go about such business is probably a good sign. As the organization theorist Kenneth Boulding once observed, “Where there is hypocrisy, there is hope.” But not that much hope: Politics consistently refuses to recognize the exceedingly narrow boundaries within which political organizations may maneuver effectively, and politicians instead consistently seek to extend their influence into realms in which they have no competence or the capability of acquiring competence.

Politics suffers from an insurmountable information deficit, resulting in an inability to plan. It suffers from problems associated with the self-interest of politicians and political institutions. Both of these are made much more acute by the fact that politics has for centuries successfully insulated itself from the competitive and innovative forces that produce gradual (and sometimes radical) evolutionary change in other social institutions.

Each of these problems is a direct consequence of the fact that politics is, as noted, a monopoly.”

Excerpt From: Kevin D. Williamson. “The End Is Near and It’s Going to Be Awesome.” HarperCollins, 2013-05-01. iBooks.

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