Are there "good" governments?

2009-06-18 · Original WordPress address

I'm actually with Will Wilkinson when he talks up "liberaltarianism" and I support a reasonable social safety net. I'm one of those people that thinks rising GDP indicates increasing interdependence, that that is a good thing and that self-sufficiency is the road to poverty. Today Wilkinson suggests a reason why liberaltarianism might be a non-starter:

[I]t’s easiest to get people to face up to tax increases if they don’t have the sense that they’re paying more just so the special interests of the winning coalition can get more.

Isn't the conditional phrase an empirical fact about governments? This reminds me of my dad and the Church. Even after all us kids grew up and he stopped going to church, he gave money to them every week. The Church does a lot of good things for people --- disaster relief, poor assistance, etc --- but a couple years ago my dad stopped giving. His primary reason: he thought his money was primary going to paying off molested children; it wasn't going to help poor people. He didn't want to subsidize corruption. I don't want to subsidize corruption either.