We’re still in a slow news cycle and autopilot economy and society. What we call news is just the illusion of activity and spontaneity, when everything is already predetermined. You can see the desperation of the liberal media to try to turn this Muller investigation in to Watergate 2.0. They, the left, are trying to throw a bird when all they have are unhatched eggs, that go splat.
It’s not news that Congress’ approval ratings are very low, as has been the case for over a decade, despite both parties at one point having control of the House:
There is a general sense both by the ‘left’ and the ‘right’ that government isn’t working well, if not totally ineffective, and that government is deaf to what ‘the people’ want. However, there is a positive side to this.
On one extreme, you have examples like Mao, Stalin, and Hitler, where their governments worked too well. As the cliched saying goes, the government that governs least governs best. So if you can’t have a small govt, the next best is an inept one, I suppose. A government that lets the free market and tech sector run things (which is vastly smarter and more efficient than the govt.), is perhaps better than a government that is too effective at over-regulating and over-taxing. But this leaves both sides empty-handed and disappointed, hence single-digit approval ratings.
Some people get mad that I’m advocating ineffective government or that I’m equating efficacy with despotism, but imagine if government were as efficient and effective as the private sector, or even more so, and the ‘other side’ were in charge. Aren’t you thankful then that they don’t have more power? If things seem bad now, imagine how much worse they could be if the ‘other side’ were able to rule more effectively. Look at Canada and their Human Rights Tribunal or Germany’s total ban on ‘hate speech’..the left, if they had the power, would do the same in America. Invoking the precautionary principle, when people complain “I wish the government worked better,” sometimes you have to be careful what you want. Yeah, maybe 95% of effective governments are benevolent, but the 5% that aren’t can be really bad.
But doesn’t this contradict the HBD thesis, in which I argue that countries with corrupt and inept governments, such as Brazil, do poorly? Not necessarily. In America, due to free market capitalism and high-IQ enclaves such as Silicon Valley, an inept government is actually a blessing because smart, productive people have more power and this sorta acts as an economic tailwind, than smart people being weighed by excessive regulation and taxation.