Missing The Bigger Picture

It started when Owen Robinson posted his column regarding the limits of government, which includes this:

Time after time we are seeing the inherent limitations of our federal government. It is not capable of acting to correct our nation’s and world’s ills. It can’t plug the gushing oil well in the gulf. It can’t make companies hire people. It can’t thwart illegal aliens. It can’t create Mideast peace. It’s not a matter of desire; it’s a matter of capability. Our federal government is not God and has a limited capacity to effect change.

These are but a few recent examples of government’s inability to properly manage certain things. It’s not government’s fault. It would never be able to manage such complex events. It is our fault in supposing that our government should manage such events. In fact, wiser people would recognize that such events are properly resolved with creativity, assertiveness, and intelligence which government is naturally incapable of achieving.

This simple inadequacy of government to manage complex events is what makes me fear the coming onslaught of government-run health care. It’s one thing for President Obama to claim responsibility and authority of the BP oil spill as it continues to spew oil into the gulf. It’s quite another thing for President Obama to claim responsibility and authority for grandma’s next chemotherapy treatment.

Government has a role and a purpose, but it is necessarily limited because government can never be as flexible or creative as the private sector in finding solutions. Let us recognize the limits of government and turn to ourselves when adversity presents itself.

PaddyMac is besides himself with glee regarding Owen's post.

The Brawler points out that the government has been responsible for many great things, like reducing poverty among the elderly.

But what all three of these gentlemen miss is the obvious, bigger picture.

Where Owen said that the government will never be as "flexible or creative as the private sector" in fixing things, what they fail to realize or admit is that most often, as with the BP oil spill, it is the private sector that screwed it up so royally that the no one can fix it. It is also the private sector that then turns to the government to clean up their mess.