The choices discussed are the most recent initiatives of the Bush administration, most notably the privatization of social security, educational vouchers under the guise of "no child left behind" and health care reform. The article is informative in its generality and if it were a martini, it would be a double dry. Yet, there was an observation that reiterated something that was written back in 1923 that I believe, while being more philosophical, was and still is more apropos. The 1923 version, in fact, found its place here at CSE right from the very beginning.

The Washington Monthly article states:

"You can begin to see a pattern here. Americans love the idea of choice—in the abstract. But when faced with the actual choices conservatives present, they aren't buying. The reason is that conservatives have constructed choices that fail to take human nature into account. People like to have choices but feel quickly overwhelmed when they lack the information or expertise to decide confidently, and they turn downright negative when the choices themselves seem to put what they already have at risk. Conservatives were bound to make these mistakes because their very aim has been to transfer more risks from government to individuals so that government's size and expenditures can be cut. That's not a bargain most Americans will accept. They like choice just fine, but they won't trade security to get it."

The 1923 version is a wider observation on liberty written by H.L. Mencken on February 12, 1923 in the Baltimore Evening Sun:

"The truth is that the common man's love of liberty, like his love of sense, justice and truth, is almost wholly imaginary. As I have argued, he is not actually happy when free; he is uncomfortable, a bit alarmed, and intolerably lonely. He longs for the warm, reassuring smell of the herd, and is willing to take the herdsman with it. Liberty is not a thing for such as he. He cannot enjoy it rationally himself, and he can think of it in others only as something to be taken away from them. It is, when it becomes a reality, the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority of men, like knowledge, courage and honour. A special sort of man is needed to understand it, nay, to stand it -- and he is inevitably an outlaw in democratic societies. The average man doesn't want to be free. He simply wants to be safe."

While many readers may not like the notion of longing for the smell of the herd, a bit of introspection may be in order - or you can just forget about it while reading the Washington Monthly article.


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11.8.05