Liberty Maven

As a child I learned a hard lesson. I learned that sometimes doing nothing is better than doing something. I learned it through failure. I learned it the hard way. Luckily I didn’t burn down the house we lived in at the time.

A friend was over and we were playing with a lighter. He flicked on the flame and started waving it back and forth in front of me trying to scare me. It worked. I was scared and didn’t want to get burned so I felt I had to do something, anything, to put that flame out. So I reached for the nearest item I thought would help me extinguish the flame–a bottle of nail polish remover.

I splashed the liquid out and over the lighter. I watched with fascinated horror as the droplets caught fire and fell to the carpet, catching the carpet on fire right next to our old couch. Luckily we were able to put it out before the couch caught fire.

It occurred to me recently that this event taught me something quite profound–that “doing something” isn’t always the best answer. With the exception of Ron Paul, our government is full of do something, no matter the cost, representatives. I don’t think they do it just for kicks. I think they mean well, but well-meaning drastic measures can be catastrophic when there is too much focus on the today with little regard for the tomorrow. They always seem to miss the big picture, the larger consequences of their actions.

This is especially true of actions taken in haste. The first $700 billion bailout comes to mind. Thanks Bush. Now we have a progressive agenda bill wrapped in stimulus package clothing from Obama. Then again, blaming our presidents alone is foolish. Congress is also culpable, perhaps more so.

The root of the problem seems to be with electoral politics in America, but perhaps it goes even deeper than that. Perhaps it is our immediate gratification culture. We not only demand action, but we are action. It’s always “go” time in America.

It’s not only our lawmakers. We constituents fail to see the bigger picture too. We expect action from our representatives by poorly formed or predominately emotional opinions on policy matters. Congress is a reflection of us. They are too busy worrying about the next election rather than to devote enough time to truly understand most of the consequences of their prospective laws. The good among them are those that have the mind and demeanor of an experienced teacher.

There is no better example of this than Ron Paul. Even if you disagree with him you can’t help but respect him. That is what I’m looking for when I evaluate America’s current and potential lawmakers. We need more Ron Paul-like people in Congress. Not necessarily people that believe the same things, but people that you can’t help but respect, even if you don’t agree with them.

We need people in government that take time to relax in the face of adversity, using all their natural faculties to discern as many consequences of an action as possible. Lawmaking is a deliberative process. We should worry greatly when our elected  men and women admonish the public to “pass this bill quickly or else…”. Bush did this with the first bailout bill (TARP) and now Obama is doing it with his stimulus package. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Capitalism and free markets are taking their last breaths. These ideas made America great. Ron Paul and a few others are fighting to bring America back to that greatness. Often Paul is asked what he would do to help stimulate the economy. His answers tend to leave interviewers unsatisfied because Ron Paul knows that we must not fall into the trap of doing “something, anything!”

Sometimes, like my childhood lesson suggests, it is better to do nothing. Acting without weighing all the consequences is foolish and could find you standing outside watching your house burn down. This is certainly a frightening thought when that house is the country you call home and everyone around you is trying to help by dumping gasoline on the fire.