Childish American Politics Keeps Moving Us Closer To Socialism

Whatever you want to say about the system of politics in America, you're probably right.

You'd be correct if you said it is inflated. Obama's Affordable Care Act increased government spending by 50%. After that, The Trump Administration increased federal spending by $800 billion. The Biden Administration is spending money like MC Hammer did in the 1990s. According to the Heritage Foundation, Congress, on average, adds one new crime per week. Over 5,000 federal laws exist, with 10,000-300,000 criminally-enforceable regulations. The criminal code is so enormous that the American Bar Association and the Congressional Research Service do not have enough people on staff to properly categorize all the laws.

You would be correct if you said the political system is corrupted. In 2016, The Oregonian, a popular newspaper in Oregon, ranked the United States 19th out of 28 countries in the West regarding government corruption. In addition, 73% of Americans feel politicians do not face "serious consequences" for their misconduct.

Here is another statement that is true about politics: it is an arena for adults.

This seems like an obvious statement, but spoiled child syndrome runs rampant in American political discourse.

In a 1989 essay written by Bruce J. McIntosh, a pediatrician who also serves as an associate professor at the University of Florida, he describes spoiled child syndrome:

"...Spoiled child syndrome is characterized by excessive self-centered and immature behavior, resulting from the failure of parents to enforce consistent, age-appropriate limits. Spoiled children display a lack of consideration for others, demand to have their own way, have difficulty delaying gratification, and are prone to temper outbursts. Their behavior is intrusive, obstructive, and manipulative. They are difficult to satisfy and do not remain satisfied long. They are unpleasant to be around, even for those who love them, and one often gets the impression that they do not enjoy being with themselves."

Those are accurate phrases describing 2022 American politics: "immature", "lack of consideration for others", "intrusive", "obstructive", "manipulative", "difficult to satisfy".

If not addressed early in life, spoiled children turn into spoiled adults. Those who kicked and screamed because they could not get a second ice cream cone when they were a child can sometimes grow up to become power-hungry and narcissistic philodoxes.

In July 2021, a viral tweet of exorbitant beer prices at a bar in New York City's LaGuardia Airport made the news.

lol at all of this, including the additional 10% “COVID Recovery Fee” that doesn’t go to workers pic.twitter.com/Bq9rHJqek7

— Cooper Lund (@cooperlund) July 7, 2021

This tweet encouraged Congressman Donald Payne Jr. (D-NJ) to co-author a letter with other lawmakers to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to investigate the menu prices. The Port Authority oversees operations at New York and New Jersey area airports.

"Simply put: travel is stressful enough," wrote Payne. "Being bamboozled at the bar for a bottle of beer is no way for our region to greet or wave goodbye to our neighbors."

Kevin O'Toole, Port Authority Chairman and former congressman, has promised an investigation into the matter, price caps on menu items, and cheaper alternatives at all vendor locations.

I will admit that $27.85 for a glass of beer is outrageous. However, the traveler still has the autonomy to decide whether they want to make the purchase. No one is forcing them to buy a $28 glass of Sam Adams or an $11 bag of french fries. Inflated pricing is an issue the free market can solve.

A true free-market economy will regulate itself. If overpricing occurs, a profit-minded business owner will make necessary adjustments to ensure their margins are in the green. In the case of LaGuardia Airport, if the glass of Sam Adams Summer Ale is not selling at the $27.85 price tag, the vendors will (or should) lower the price. If it starts selling at a lower price, the number will continue to fluctuate until the proper profit sweet spot is found. Many factors can affect price points, such as the product's popularity, where the product is being sold, gas prices, wages of delivery drivers, etc.

Also, a business owner has the right to price products and services in line with the clientele base they want to attract. Tag Heuer is a luxury watch company that caters its products to higher-earning consumers. If someone can afford their timepieces, that's great. If not, there are plenty of other watch companies they can afford. A free market provides numerous options.

Instead of letting free-market capitalism work its magic, politicians artificially alter the marketplace by mandating what a business has to sell and how much it can sell a product for. This is a staple of socialist economies where the governing bodies determine all aspects of the market. Many economists over the years have spoken of the folly of this approach. Economist Frank Knight, who founded the Chicago School of Economics and taught other notable economists like Milton Friedman and George Stigler, was a pertinacious condemner of socialist economic principles.

George Halm, a German-American economist, agreed with Knight on the flawed economic principles:

"Because capital is no longer owned by many private persons, but by the community, which itself disposes of it directly, a rate of interest can no longer be determined. A pricing process is always possible only when demand and supply meet in a market…. In the socialist economy … there can be no demand and no supply when the capital from the outset is in the possession of its intending user, in this case the socialistic central authority."

A centralized governing force does not have all the information about the means of production. A decentralized decision-making force will have specific analytics about what consumers want. Skateboard companies often have street teams interacting with customers in-person to find out the likes and dislikes of their products and take suggestions for making their products better. Different adjustments will alter the skateboard prices. A governing body dictating pricing does not have that information, nor should it.

World-renown economist Fredrich Hayek discussed the ills of a centralized means of production in his 1945 paper, "The Use of Knowledge in Society":

"The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must make use never exists in concentrated or integrated form, but solely as the dispersed bits of incomplete and frequently contradictory knowledge which all the separate individuals possess."

Another, more sobering, argument (excuse the pun) can be made regarding the beer prices at LaGuardia Airport. Why can't the Twitter user afford a $28 beer? What personal, career, and financial choices did that person make that they cannot afford to pay inflated prices? Again, I am not justifying paying for overpriced things, but occasionally it will happen. If a $28 beer completely wrecks your budget for the month, perhaps, you should shoulder some blame and reconsider some of your financial choices. Other people can afford it.

Another example of childish politics is smoking bans in restaurants.

Adolph Hitler instituted one of the first indoor smoking bans in 1941. In fact, Nazi Germany had one of the most aggressive anti-tobacco campaigns globally at the time. Hitler was an avid smoker in his early years, reportedly consuming 25 to 40 cigarettes per day. His views changed as he aged, stating, "So many excellent men have been lost to tobacco poisoning." By excellent men, he meant soldiers who would continue fighting his wars. He wanted healthier men for combat and reproducing offspring.

In the States, California passed the first restaurant smoking ban in 1995. The effort is with noble intentions: to give employees a work environment free from second-hand smoke, which can be linked to lung cancer and other diseases.

On the other hand, a free labor market solves this problem. Suppose a restaurant chooses to allow patrons to smoke. In that case, the owner assumes all the risks and repercussions: non-smoking patrons not dining at the restaurant, which potentially results in less revenue (on average, non-smokers earn a higher annual income than smokers); not being an attractive place to work, which results in fewer quality employees; higher insurance rates because of increased fire risks. Over time, the restaurant will either change its policy or go out of business. No need for the government to intervene.

Economist and intellectual Thomas Sowell wrote, "The idea that government is supposed to make your desires override the desires of other citizens has spread from the green bigots [enviornmentalists] to other groups who claim privileges in the name of rights."

Politicians and voters have increasingly become spoiled children when life does not go their way. Their temper tantrums will only push the country farther away from freedom.