Family Law Lifeline

Posted on January 18, 2008 by John Steele

I shake my head when I read papers from people declaring that government needs to get more involved in people’s private lives: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084562 The problem with such government meddling is that it doesn’t work. Communism’s failure in the 1900′s is a stark testament to the unpredictable nature of central control.  Unintended consequences result from every action.  A simple example: You save a bird, and feel good that you helped out a living creature.  But that bird has an illness that makes people sick, and proceeds to infect dozens of Chicago citizens.   Similarly, the Miami city government years ago had to address a rampant rat problem, so they decided to import a few hundred cats, today there is a larger wild cat problem in that city than the rats ever posed.  Do we really want ‘incentives’ for good behavior (at least what the government decrees is good behavior).  In the above paper marriage was deemed a good status and unmarried cohabitation was deemed a bad state of living.  But there are horrible marital situations filled with abuse and neglect, and unmarried couples leading commendable lives.  No one size fits all solution has ever  worked, especially when created by a federal bureaucracy.  And then there is that whole concept of freedom and the natural rights of man enunciated in that Constitution document .  .  . Posted on January 18, 2008 by John Steele

I shake my head when I read papers from people declaring that government needs to get more involved in people's private lives: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1084562 The problem with such government meddling is that it doesn't work. Communism’s failure in the 1900′s is a stark testament to the unpredictable nature of central control. Unintended consequences result from every action. A simple example: You save a bird, and feel good that you helped out a living creature. But that bird has an illness that makes people sick, and proceeds to infect dozens of Chicago citizens. Similarly, the Miami city government years ago had to address a rampant rat problem, so they decided to import a few hundred cats, today there is a larger wild cat problem in that city than the rats ever posed. Do we really want ‘incentives’ for good behavior (at least what the government decrees is good behavior). In the above paper marriage was deemed a good status and unmarried cohabitation was deemed a bad state of living. But there are horrible marital situations filled with abuse and neglect, and unmarried couples leading commendable lives. No one size fits all solution has ever worked, especially when created by a federal bureaucracy. And then there is that whole concept of freedom and the natural rights of man enunciated in that Constitution document . . .

]]>