Writes Brian Doherty:
Many aspects of America’s future are at risk as politicians and public intellectuals respond to the current economic crisis. The politicians are shaping how (far too much of) Americans’ money, resources, and precious bodily fluids will be expended, both now and in the very far future. Beyond the (completely insane) spending explosion per se, the specifics of how banking and technology policy will be dealt with, along with the detailed shopping list of Washington spending, show that D.C.’s strength in shaping how agents in the “free market” (that is, us human beings out here) move through the world is growing at an alarming rate. The incentives–and yes, even whims–of free individual choice are increasingly losing out to the commands and decisions of special interests in Washington. That will prove more dangerous in the long term than even the spending.
