The stupidity incentive

Economists and conservatives in general often write about incentives, that is, people do what they have an incentive (internal or external) to do, and they do not do what have a disincentive to do. There are usually some of each being weighed, but actually every choice we make and every action we take is based on some perceived good coming of it, or some perceived harm being avoided. "Who cares?" I imagine you're asking. Good question! (Not really, but flattery keeps people reading.)

I was reading an article in a leftish webzine which I believe has much wider readership than this blog, and they wrote that they had started (or made known) a backlash against the new agey power-of-positive-thinking crowd with a good, old-fashioned Be Realistic and Prepare For The Worst article and a mention of a book of the same idea. The article posited that "only people in an affluent, technologically advanced society, packed with fail-safes and conveniences, could be so susceptible to [the positive thinking crowd]'s brand of hubris." The article even mentioned Hurricane Katrina, and how some people assumed that the government had fixed the levees.

My friends, our leftish friends are dangerously close to stumbling upon: the truth that conservatives have been telling them all along! When you have a big, mommy government taking care of everything for everyone, the incentive to be careful and look into things for yourself is reduced precipitously. Why live in a place where hurricanes don't ravage the shoreline? The government will come and save us! Why learn which cars are safer than others? Ralph Nader will protect us from unsafe cars! Why pay attention to what we eat? If it were unhealthy, the government wouldn't let them sell it to us anyway! Why educate our children? The government does that for us with the free public schools!

Nanny government isn't just bad for the economy, it makes millions of Americans fatter, dumber, and lazier.

SRS