May You Live In Interesting Times

This post was written by Edward Mahee. Writing under a pen name, Mr. Mahee is a legal analyst and political commentator. This is his tenth posting for the site.

Many people have heard the phrase, “May you live in interesting times.”  It is often said to be an English translation of a Chinese curse. Irrespective of its linguistic origins, its character as a curse is not hard to imagine.  Interesting times are the times and events that make for interesting reading and study. 

Consider American history.  The country is full of Civil War “buffs,” amateur historians from all walks of life, who may be found talking for hours about General Stuart’s role in the Confederate defeat at Gettysburg.  And just when you think there is nothing new to write about regarding the Civil War, dozens of new books are published on the subject every year.  Why? Because it was an enormously interesting time in American history, where 620,000 people died, dozens of cities were destroyed, and whole sections of the country were laid to waste. 

Conversely, very few books or amateur historians can be found discussing the United States, circa 1890.  Why? Because it was boring.  It was boring because the country was humming along, and peace and prosperity reigned as a general rule.  That doesn’t make for great reading, but the people who lived through it certainly would have preferred peaceful, prosperous and boring, to action-packed, interesting and dangerous.

It is clear that the American people are living in most interesting times.  Everyday we hear about the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, persistent unemployment of nearly 10%, ongoing economic malaise, political corruption, and an ever increasing debt which will soon exceed our GDP (and according to Kevin D. Williamson of National Review, total public debt including national, state, municipal debt and other unfunded liabilities may exceed GDP by 10 fold).  Much has been said concerning the nature of these issues and to what extent blame needs to be placed at the door step of the man who presently sits in the Oval Office.  That I will leave to others.

There is, however, a larger point that needs to be made.  It is when times are interesting that we begin to hear the loud cries from progressives for the need for more active and more powerful government in order to solve problems.  We heard that message from President Obama during his recent Oval Office speech, in which he argued that the occurrence of the oil spill from the Deepwater Horizon platform suggests that Congress must implement a heavy handed, top-down, tax and spend green energy plan.  One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.  Congress and the President can raise all of the taxes in the world, we can all go back to living in caves, and the oil will still flow.

It is when times are interesting that people begin to realize that there are limits to the things government can do.  Just like King Canute could not command the tides, President Obama cannot command the oil to stop flowing, jobs to be created, new things to be invented, or the economy to fix itself.  It is when times are interesting that individuals must realize the government cannot do everything.  We need to look to ourselves, our choices, our markets and our freedom to clean up the mess, punish irresponsible companies and employ people in productive enterprises.  King Canute’s experiment with the tides proved his point; his power is not complete and absolute.  Today’s progressives would do well to heed the same lesson.

The present may be fraught with challenges, but it is also pregnant with opportunities.  When people realize that though the government can and ought to do a few things, it is far from competent to do anything and everything.  That is the moment when people look to their families, communities, associations (large and small) and themselves to handles crises, support each other, and provide the foundation for what is good in this world.  Perhaps in these interesting times we may again capture that spirit and make tomorrow less interesting than today.

-Edward Mahee for TruPolitics.net