US Election 2004

"Good is the enemy of great," according to management researcher Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. 

Applying his observation to governance, he notes that we do not have great government because we have good government.  While we have settled for good government, the choice to have great government remains available.

Relative to other governments, ours is good.  However, even if the other governments were not rapidly decaying under the yoke of collectivism, relative comparisons are not the appropriate standard of value.

We created our government for the enhancement of our individual lives or as Jefferson wrote our "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."  By settling for good instead of choosing great, our government has become destructive of those ends.

Using an Isaiah Berlin paradigm, Collins identified that good organizations are "foxes" while great organizations are "hedgehogs."  As a fox, our good government pursues many ends in a complex world while achieving unsatisfactory results.  In contrast, like a hedgehog, the great government must know one big simple truth and pursue the actualization of that value with focused discipline.

Essentially, the hedgehog concept for great government answers the question, "What is the purpose of government?"  Like the fox, too many modern political theorists focus upon complexity and the need for government to manage competing interests without reference to a fixed standard of value.  In contrast, two early contract theorists, John Locke and Thomas Hobbes agreed on a simple clear purpose for government: the protection of individuals from violation by other individuals.

As applied to governance, America has had the following hedgehog concept to provide a foundation for great government: the vital purpose of government is the protection of individual rights, which acknowledges that no individual holds an unearned claim upon the life of another individual.  As such, government is not a necessary evil, but an essential creation of the rational mind with direct relevance to an individual's life.

This hedgehog concept creates an objective standard by which all governmental decisions can be measured, and choices can be evaluated.  Further, by putting government in the proper context, this hedgehog concept explains why to choose great instead of settling for good.

Undoubtedly, today's political landscape abounds with obstacles to developing a great government.  Principally, based upon their ideas, the wrong people are in government.  Our legislators excel in the ancient art of sophistry.  Our bureaucrats organize into political factions to block transformational change.  Our civil service system protects incompetence while failing to reward excellence.  Our Senate's confirmation process and the media drives out qualified candidates for appointed offices.  Our leaders in executive office focus on an unreal "political reality," instead of confronting the facts of reality.  We spin in a cycle of political failure as opposing political parties alternate in power and pursue competing statist agendas, which continuously undermines our good government by pushing it to become tyrannical.

Despite these facts, there is cause for optimism.  We know where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.  This same certainty, firmly established by facing the facts of reality, was exhibited by the individuals who signed the Declaration of Independence, drafted our Constitution, and fought for individual rights on the battlefield and in the courtroom.  The cause they advanced has not been fully realized; therefore, it is up to us to choose.

Ultimately, the question is not more or less government; it is a choice between decaying good government or great government, which focuses on protecting individual rights.

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