A Lesson To Be Remembered For November

I find that more often words of wisdom come not necessarily from those writing the op-ed pieces in the various publications – both hardcopy and online – but from those commenting upon them. In a recent WSJ piece by Kimberly Strassel about how it is the various state governors who are leading the way in reform, showing the federal government how to put the country's fiscal house back into order, two particularly astute observations were made by her readers – one stating the choice we have before us this coming November and the other quoting Thomas Sowell in relation to the first.

Stated the first, Steve Korn:

We have a choice between government that works and government that doesn't.

To which Gregg Sanderson replied:

Thomas Sowell had the best answer I've seen:

"Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good."

And so it has been in our nation and others of the West. It has become less about logic and using the lessons from the past, showing us what works and what doesn't, and more about already dis-proven means of doing things that are implemented anyways because of how it makes someone (or a group of someones) feel.

As history has shown again and again, and particularly over the past few decades, making choices based upon or heavily influenced by feelings is almost always the wrong thing to do. The unintended consequences almost always outweigh any perceived benefits and end up doing more harm than doing nothing while providing little good.