on innovative government

I like this thought on “experts” who have new, innovative ideas for government policy:

The way I would put this is that tradition is usually the best guide. Clever innovations can improve on tradition, but they do so with much less frequency than intellectuals implicitly believe. Think of a new idea for social policy as if it were a new business–the chances are that it will fail. Yet the intellectual is disposed toward trying to implement this new idea. Unfortunately, when the state is the vehicle for implementing the idea, the failure is not isolated, as it is with a failed business start-up. Instead, it is a failure that is widespread and long-lasting.

And, I’d like to add, virtually impossible to repeal if it ends up being a bad idea. Exhibit A is ethanol subsidies, already universally condemned (except by big midwestern corn farmers) and likely to stay on the books for my lifetime.