The recent crisis, and our reaction to it, brings to mind some thoughts about the modern world. As you know I am conservative by nature which means I harbor a healthy suspicion of the power of government to remedy the ills of the world. All that said the nature of the modern world and its industrial economy makes me keep a few points in mind.
Powerlessness. One of the downfalls of the modern economy is the sense of powerlessness provoked in normal people. We lose jobs and investments to factors we could not have predicted let alone understand. The world can also be, as noted so well by Nassim Taleb, a capricious and unfair place at times. As such we need to believe the government is on our side against these forces. This has nothing to do with rational thinking or justice; I am concerned with preventing revolution, as the alternatives always lead to rabble rousers like those who brought down the Roman republic. We need a government that is strong during a crisis.
True government. All this in mind we cannot forget that the state's authority is always coercive in nature. Governments pass laws to rule, and if any of us resist the power of the state the result, at the extreme, is death. Given that force and the state are joined we cannot believe that the government represents society and our better interests; other groups in society do this. We would do well to remember this point.
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