Murray spends the first third of his book explaining what’s so wretched about our democracy today. ...
You can all fill in the blanks. Murray's points here would only remind you how doomed we are. Let's get to the good stuff: Answers!
A Republican president and GOP congressional majorities would not set things right. The system is too ingrained, and besides, Murray admits, Republicans are no better than Democrats at constraining government or upholding individual liberties. (This is not an anti-Obama book; Murray sees the current president as symptom, not cause.) Tired of waiting for America to do the right thing, he wants it to do the wrong thing in service of a righteous cause.
How, you ask?
The regulatory state has two related weaknesses, he explains: It relies on voluntary compliance, and its enforcement capabilities are far inferior to its expansive mandate. So he proposes a private legal defense fund — the “Madison Fund,” honoring the father of the Constitution — that businesses and citizens can rely on for representation against federal regulators. By engaging in expensive and time-consuming litigation on behalf of clients that refuse to comply with pointless rules, the fund drains the government’s enforcement resources and eventually undercuts its ambitions. The state can compel submission from an individual or company with the threat of ruinous legal proceedings, Murray writes, “but Goliath cannot afford to make good on that threat against hundreds of Davids.”
Sounds like a good idea. Where's their Kickstarter page?
The review makes it sound interesting. I may read this one, in 2020 or so, after the other million books I've promised to read.
Update: Sic & link to article added. Can't believe I missed that.
4 comments:
Sounds like a good idea. I'd chip in for the Madison fund.
After watching them for effective management and results for quite a while, I decided to contribute to FIRE, Judicial Watch, & Institute for Justice, organizations that undertake to legally represent those individuals unduly burdened by the regulatory state but who have not the resources for defense. Granted, it's a pretty measly amount that I can afford, given the costs of litigation against the powerful state, but I do what I can.
I prefer these more narrowly-targeted organizations to the idea of a centrally-managed fund that may try to "do everything," but do nothing as effectively. YMMV
The FOunding Fathers left behind a Republic. Now people have, at best, a democracy. To be expected of human degradation.
A lot of the US is an oligarchy though, just to clarify.
Granted, it's a pretty measly amount that I can afford, given the costs of litigation against the powerful state, but I do what I can.
That's why the state has taxes and the king takes another additional cut, from Hussein's own private coffers.
When the workers and peasants have no money except to feed themselves, they can't voluntarily fund organizations that can then challenge the power of the state or the liege lords of the states. While this doesn't produce much prosperity in the land, it is an effective way to control people.
Instead of them having 8 to your 6, they would rather have 5 to your 1. In other words, the rulers would rather be 4 steps above you, than 2 steps above you, even if the situation where they were only 2 steps superior, everyone was more prosperous and secure.
In this fashion, do the Ruling Class, become Born to Rule.
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