Boudreaux on Politicians

From Cafe Hayek this weekend...

It's a Difficult Job Saving Society

Don Boudreaux

Here's a letter that I sent yesterday to The State (of Columbia, SC):

Asked why he failed to disclose his receiving, free-of-charge, $250,000 worth of renovation work on his private residence, Sen. Ted Stevens explained, as you summarize it, "that some details may have gotten lost amid the busy life of a senator: the committee meetings, the long hours and the challenges that come with representing a state four time zones away" ("Stevens combative in questioning during trial," October 17).

I see the problem. And it suggests that Sen. Stevens (and his overworked, travel-weary colleagues in Congress) must also be unaware of the details that permeate those massive bailout bills, omnibus spending statutes, and other such pieces of legislation. No busy mortal can possibly keep track of these details. So it would be only right for Sen. Stevens and those Senators who've testified in his defense as character witnesses to renounce the vast bulk of legislation that they've passed as being filled with provisions too numerous and detailed for such busy pooh-bahs to have carefully pondered - or even to have noticed.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

I can no more imagine myself behaving as a successful politician behaves -- kissing babies in public; telling strangers that I feel their pain; assuring strangers that I'm to be trusted to spend their money more wisely than then will spend it -- than I can imagine myself being a mosquito or a venus fly trap. It is simply inconceivable that any decent human being would behave in ways that the typical politician behaves.

And yet, so many people -- so many decent people -- believe in (or at least crave, child-like) secular salvation through secular saviors. It's no surprise, then, that persons unashamed to act deceitfully and disingenuously crawl out from under their rocks to pose as saviors.

Justification....Politician Style

From Senator Stevens's testimony today:

Stevens has said he never sought gifts and wouldn't even accept a free lunch, much less expensive remodeling services. But prosecutors say he had a history of accepting gifts — including an expensive massage chair from a friend — and omitting them from the financial disclosure forms.

He said he considered that chair a loan.

"And the chair is still at your house?" prosecutor Brenda Morris asked.

"Yes," Stevens said.

"How is that not a gift?"

"He bought that chair as a gift, but I refused it as a gift," Stevens said. "He put it there and said it was my chair. I told him I would not accept it as a gift. We have lots of things in our house that don't belong to us."

Playing to the jury, Morris appeared confused.

"So, if you say it's not a gift, it's not a gift?" she said.

"I refused it as a gift," Stevens replied. "I let him put it in our basement at his request."