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September 10, 2005
Disassembling Dowd
Will Wilkinson is a policy analyst at the Cato Institute in Washington and runs the smart Fly Bottle blog. In this TCS Central piece piece (blog link here), Mr. Wilkinson deliciously exposes the muddled thinking behind three recent op-eds written by NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd, Washington Post columnist Harold Myerson and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman that all contend that the principles of limited government and economic libertarianism caused the tragedy in New Orleans.
When I read Ms. Dowd's piece earlier in the week, it occurred to me that her remark "when you combine limited government with incompetent government, lethal stuff happens" rather naively presumed that less limited but competent government is a realistic alternative. However, Mr. Wilkinson's op-ed takes that observation several steps further and concludes:
Dowd, Krugman, and Meyerson evidently loathe free markets and limited government. And they also loathe the Bush administration. Apparently it would be nice for them if they could bundle their hatreds into a package of loathing, tie it up in spite, and burn it. So they try. But the package won't hold together, and they can't bash Bush without burning themselves. The most cursory inspection of the front page indicates that the difference between him and them is simply the details of their hostility to economic freedom and small government.
Read the entire piece for some refreshing clear thinking.
Posted by Tom at September 10, 2005 07:42 AM
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Comments
Don't look for me to defend Dowd, but the characterization of Krugman as "hating free markets" is more than a little surreal. Krugman tends to write about how markets operate in reality (rather than the perfect but not real world that the Cato folks, despite often being insightful, regularly slip into) and how the current administration is ignoring them.
Dowd tends to go for the smart quip over anything more insightful, and even when I agree with her conclusion, I can't go along for her ride there, though.
Posted by: John at September 10, 2005 10:59 AM
“Don't look for me to defend Dowd, but the characterization of Krugman as "hating free markets" is more than a little surreal.”
Paul Krugman used to be a rational and level headed economist while still writing for Slate.com. I used to make a point of reading his column. But today he is a stark raving mad man. His hatred of George W. Bush has turned him into another Captain Ahab who feels compelled to destroy Moby Dick. And yes, it is now very fair to describe him as “hating free markets.” The man is not improving with age.
I am utterly committed to the principle of subsidiarity. It is insane to expect the federal government to clearly understand the needs of the local population. At best, it can act as a valuable backup.
Posted by: David Thomson at September 11, 2005 12:02 AM
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