I’m a bookish sort who’s frequently leaped and been thrown into subordinance to people who were less adept at filling in circles on test sheets, giving me a humbling appreciation for the raw difference between and parity of human skillsets.  A fish salesman better knew the dignity and power of hard work; a finish carpenter better understood the value of each step in a process… to organize, to clean, to prepare.

These experiences came to mind upon reading George Will’s column, yesterday, about President Obama’s losing his progressive fantasies about government:

Obama, startled that components of government behave as interest groups, seems utterly unfamiliar with public choice theory. It demystifies and de-romanticizes politics by applying economic analysis — how incentives influence behavior … how elected officials and bureaucrats pursue personal aggrandizement as much as people do in the private sector. …

… He [still] thinks [big government] serves equality. Actually, big government inevitably drives an upward distribution of wealth to those whose wealth, confidence and sophistication enable them to manipulate government.

It’s not implausible to believe that the machinations of government are critical to society, but from the point of view of my former co-workers, the tasks involved look a lot like make-work.  And yet, the government’s powers to tax and arrest tend to prioritize them, not only as people strive to build their lives, but also as an area of focus for businesses and other organizations.  There’s a reason Washington is a puddle of prosperity in a nation of unemployment.

The task of making sure things are done according to rules ought to be subordinate to the task of getting them done.  This is a matter not only of economic necessity, but also of human equality.  Being able to manipulate politics and a bureaucracy should not be the sine qua non of individual worth.