Happy Friday RedStaters!  We do live in interesting times, don’t we?  Join us for a spell at the Water Cooler.  It’s always an Open Thread.

Never Accountable, and Loving it!

A solid, vibrant chunk of a conservative’s worldview is made up of visceral understanding that the elite aren’t, and that a government responsible won’t be.  We get that public servants all too often serve themselves instead.  Everyday our view is reinforced with more examples of government failure, of personal failures that collectively create a failing governance system.  Why aren’t people held accountable?  Why doesn’t everyone see things from the conservative perspective, understanding that humans are, and always will be, human.  And that those elite public servants – well, there is no one to fill that role except – you got it – humans.  Why is this not understood?

If you ignore this fundamental truth, all roads seem to lead to Progressivism.  Here’s a thought: Progressivism is at its core a Faustian bargain that allows its adherents to shirk their number one responsibility – fearing God – in exchange for a promise that if everyone stands together, they can can replace God and it will all be okay.

If I’m a progressive, then:

• I don’t have to feed the hungry.  I just have to believe that “we” should.
• I don’t have to help the poor.  I just have to believe that “we” should.
• I don’t have to protect the weak.  I just have to believe that “we” should.
• I don’t have to respect women, …

When the things that need to be done are not owned personally, locally, they fall apart.  I came across this great Vassar Bushmills piece this week that captures the failure mechanism that results: “Bureaucracy kills”.  As always with Vassar, well worth the read.  When applied to healthcare, he observes:

How many people have died because of Obamacare, beginning with, first, they couldn’t afford it, and ending with the fact that face-to-face consultation, diagnosis, and treatment result in far less death than when that same process occurs via video-and-phone consultation with medical teams who work directly for the insurers, as is increasingly the case.

When broadened out to the general principle he sees:

But government-caused catastrophes to citizens in increments of 26, 9, 15, 35, 68, and 1 a thousand times over each year, are blameless because of processes that are designed to insure that no personal accountability ever attaches to a government employee.

See that?  Bureaucracy is blameless (unaccountable) by design, not by accident.  Progressivism creates bureaucracy by design, not by accident.  Progressivism is in turn pursued by design – the Faustian bargain.  It’s not that people don’t see the failures of Progressivism.  It’s that it’s worth it!