Killing The Unkillable

A guiding principle of limited government holds that government should be as local as possible. If something can be managed at the local level, better not to have state involved. If something can be managed at the state level, better not to have the feds involved.

This principle is anathema to those among us who feel uncomfortable with a lack of control. 'What if those deplorables or bitter clingers or garbage in some distant part of the country make choices I know are bad ones!?,' think countless Best-and-Brightest on a constant basis. Yet is a big reason that America is such a prosperous nation. Federalism - our system of power distributed between local, state, and national government - offers more proximity, quicker feedback, enables competing ideas to be tested, and limits harm done by bad ones. Northeastern urbanites and Western ranchers lead very different lives and have many different desires, and trying to manage the lives of both from one (often insulated and tone-deaf) enclave in Washington DC is a recipe for failure and resentment.

Unfortunately, the egos of the Best-and-Brightest drive them to wanting to control everything from the top, no matter how clear the failures of this approach have been illustrated by the likes of the old Soviet Union and other collectivist governments. So, DC continues to grow, and the adage that ‘the most difficult creature in all of creation to kill is an on-going government program’ is repeatedly validated.

This is certainly going to be the case when and if Trump pursues his stated goal of eliminating the federal Department of Education.