Today I came across this quote by Frank Herbert, the science fiction writer who authored the book Dune:
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible.
The statement rings very true. It also brought to fore my interest in the nature of public attitudes toward high-level politicians and towards their private sector counterparts, corporate executives. Take a slice of public opinion, especially among those who lean statist, and you will find many that voice their distrust and dislike of politicians. You will also find that many of the same distrusters also distrust corporate “bigwigs.” In both these cases, the distrust is generalized i.e. they distrust politicians and CEOs as a class, as generic and unnamed individuals, and in the aggregate. This materializes in the consistently low polls for Congress as a whole, in the perpetual clarion calls for regulating big companies, and in the eternal grousing about how much money CEOs make.
When politics and corporate top-dogs are considered individually, however, the tune changes. Individual politicians are often regarded in total contrast and contradiction to politicians in general i.e. people who dislike and distrust “politicians” will often idolize certain individuals. This is abundantly clear in the case of our current President, but it’s reflected throughout history (and increasingly so as big names of the past recede further back into history). Contrast that with how famous billionaires are regarded. Yes, many will hold Soros and Gates and Buffett and Jobs in high esteem, but there remains a wariness towards them, a lack of willingness to entrust them with unchecked power and free rein, a caution even when they’re supporting causes people believe in, an attitude of “they’re great when they’re spending their money on things l like, but otherwise they’re dirty.”
Consider also how history reflects on them. The titans of the past are far more likely to be considered askance and derogated than their political counterparts by the statists among us. The “robber barons” of the late 19th century headed up one of the most explosive eras of technological advancement, an era that laid the foundation for a century of prosperity and growth, yet their very moniker is a slur. Henry Ford changed manufacturing forever and by many measures treated his workers well, yet try to have a discussion about him with a progressive without having his racism mentioned. The same is true of Walt Disney. Liberals rail against the predations of industrialists and raise their specters any time anyone says something untoward about today’s unions. Statist politicians of the past, however, are canonized. Teddy Roosevelt, Wilson, FDR, Kennedy, LBJ, Clinton – their reputations among the chattering classes get shinier and shinier as time marches on, despite the best efforts of those of us who have a limited government mindset to inject some reality into these rose-colored recollections.
But, who SHOULD we admire more? The politicians who are drawn to the power and the ability to use force to get their way, or the industrialists who created actual wealth and revolutionized our societies? Of course, many of those industrialists engaged in cronyism and rent-seeking, behaviors we libertarians abhor, yet in a comparison with statist pols they might as well be Howard Roark and Dagny Taggart. Ok, I exaggerate. Nevertheless, and hyperbole aside, people who build companies operate in a voluntary setting, where they have to convince others to buy from them or sell to them. Politicians operate in a coercive setting, where their ability to exert their will and effect their wishes depends not on the continued cooperation of those with whom they interact or who they wish to influence, but upon a combination of initial promises to many and tit-for-tat exchanges with a select few (where those exchanges invariably involve other people’s money and assets). Who’s more deserving of our respect, the millionaire who conceived and actualized the better mousetrap, or the politician who forced his will upon some for the pleasure and benefit of others?
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