Social Responsibility
Sunday, December 3rd, 2006Notwithstanding the popular mythologies of “Democratic Accountability“, under the best of circumstances our control as individual citizens over the actions of our government is diffuse and indirect, and under the worst circumstances it is all but nonexistent. In the absence of large-scale corruption, conflicts of interest, and bureaucratic inertia democratic government may reflect the general moral consensus of society as a whole but it can never reflect all the subtleties of an individual moral outlook. There is probably no one in America, now or in any earlier golden age, who can say that all their tax dollars are wisely or even agreeably spent. Even good government is by nature a compromise.
If you really believe in ensuring your economic activities, including charitable giving, reflect your individual moral values and your individual social vision and your individual voice you would be wise to remove as much of that economic activity as possible from the control of others who might see the world differently – to remove as much of that economic activity as possible from the control of any communal agent, including and especially from the control of government.