Freedomain Radio

Although I am against the idea of political action, I came up with an idea that I couldn't find any problem with, a way for a politician to get elected and shrink government.

Imagine a politician who offers every bureaucrat an entire year's salary up-front if they resign (and freezes all new hiring). He also tells all of the government-connected corporations to just shut down all operations, and simply pays them the profit they would have otherwise made, plus some extra (so the shareholders/ceos of those corporations actually make more money, even though the government spends less). Finally, he eliminates many destructive regulations and similarly bribes the existing big players to go along with it, a small price to pay for a freer economy. The politician basically offers all of the parasites much more money immediately, and in exchange they either quit or downsize. The result is that the overall spending on bureaucracy will shrink steadily, the shrinking departments will be combined/shut down, government regulations are stripped away, yet all of the parasites are kept happy. These people are mostly about immediate gain at the expense of the future. Some of the corporations may even be convinced to leave the system in exchange for several years profit up front. Eventually, all that would be left is an empty shell of government with a bunch of obvious parasitic corporations, which will be easy for people to understand and reject. Everyone wins financially - the only people who lose out are the people who are in the system purely for power.

Come to think of it, maybe this ignores people's emotional attachments to the government, which would be a major obstacle. Also, the result of all of this is a government that is smaller than it could be, which represents a massive attraction for new politicians and parasites to fill the void and expand it again. Finally, I can't escape the suspicion that somehow, people will. manage to quit, collect their money and then get rehired by the government.

I like your idea,but you have put your finger on what looks to me to be one half of the major obstruction to this ever happening.

Decentralization of power was supposed to be a good idea when governments like the US was started. With a monarch or dictator, you have one main target to dispose of. With a democracy, you have a hydra, with many "heads" to cut off, and new ones keep springing up before you can dispose of the whole unit.

I think you are right about peoples emotional attachment to the government. There is no one person to take any blame, and the government is perceived as a faceless parent from whom life's neccessities are received.

You would need very many enlightened politicians in many high offices all at once to carry this out. And how would you know which ones would not cave to the intoxication of joining the power club? Just look at Arnold Schwarzenegger in the intro to this Milton Friedman video, and compare to him now as Governor of California.

This could potentially work for a short period of time before the politician was voted back out of office.

I imagine him pitching his plan to the parasitical class as follows:

Politician: OK, here's the deal. I will pay you twice as much in benefits next year, but eliminate the programs forever the next year.

Parasitical Class: But that other politician is promising to double our benefits next year AND continue the program in the proceeding years! Bye-bye.

I think one of the most significant premises behind Stefan's political views (read: views on 'politics') is that the power that governmental positions offer is greater and more addicting than just money. I don't doubt that there are also some people in politics who have genuinely good intentions -- though whether they are able to reach any real position of power, I can't say. So between the power-hungry and the well-meaning, I don't think the bribe of a year's salary would dislodge too many!

Though I also have no ideas myself as to how this could be done, so I don't mean to just be critical...