The road to serfdom

Excellent article by Thomas Sowell (just the end):

Our current leaders in Washington operate as if they can just set arbitrary goals, whether "affordable housing" or "universal health care" or anything else — and not concern themselves with the repercussions — since they have the power to simply force individuals, businesses, doctors, or anyone else to knuckle under and follow their dictates.

Friedrich Hayek called this mindset "the road to serfdom." But, even under serfdom and slavery, experience forced those with power to recognize the limits of their power. What this administration — and especially the president — does not have is experience.

Barack Obama has had no experience running even the most modest business, and personally paying the consequences of his mistakes, before becoming president of the United States. He can believe that his heady new power is the answer to all things.

— Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. © 2010 Creators Syndicate, Inc.