Politicians Love a Good Crisis

“You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before."

“Great crises produce great men.”
The first quote was a recent statement by President Elect Obama’s incoming Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. The second quote is from JFK’s book, Profiles of Courage.

And while we are quoting: “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely” (Lord Acton).

Kennedy, while idolized by many then and now, operated under a “crisis mentality.” There was a “war” on everything…racism, poverty, Cuba, Russia, race to the moon, Vietnam, etc. The 1960’s is commonly known as a “period of unrest in US history.” Maybe it was a “period of unrest” because it was politically expedient to have a crisis at every turn. The “Great Society” came out of this period of “unrest.” Thirty years or so later we finally agreed that the welfare state created by Kennedy and Johnson did not work.

But I digress…history has proven that when people are in a crisis situation, real or perceived, they willingly give up power (personal liberties) to others that they believe will “fix the problem” and relieve them of their anxieties. Power is addictive and the opportunity to gain and keep power while “the people” feel vulnerable during times of crisis is simply just too delicious to pass up.

Mr. Emanuel’s statement is very scary to me.

How much further towards Socialism, Marxism, Fascism (and away from the free market/capitalism) will United States citizens be willing to go in an effort to “bail out” the big guys…the corporations that are “too big to fail?” Are we going to keep subsidizing failures? Is there an end?

Exactly what “things” does Mr. Emanuel think he can do now that the US is in an economic crisis? How much power will the government take during this time of stress? I guess we will find out over the next few months. I expect it will be worse than the Great Society of the 60’s and 70’s.