There’s a nice commentary piece over yonder at RealClearPolitics about the costs associated with trying to eliminate risk from life.
The author notes that Tony Blair recently grasped the nettle and brought it onboard by declaring:
"We cannot guarantee a risk-free life."
True enough! Life involves risk, and the attempt to utterly eliminate it causes more problems than it solves.
"Like what?" you ask.
The author of the piece turns his eyes homeward for examples, noting:
We in the United States are well aware of the dangers of being over-regulated. Businesses labor under unnecessary federal regulations, and litigious attorneys compel them to slap silly warnings on virtually every product.
That’s the summary, but the examples he provides are just the tip of the iceberg. America is suffering huge burdens as a result of the attempt to live (or impose on society) a risk-free life.
Blair, though, has the chutzpah to say something that few American politicians would be willing to voice:
"We also need a far more rational, balanced and intelligent debate as to how ‘risk’ is debated. Not every ‘scandal’ requires a regulatory response," he says, sensibly. Unfortunately, that approach hasn’t yet reached across the pond.
I believe this was covered in The Death of Common Sense, or that Thomas Sowell said something about it, or both. Basically it’s a question of increasing marginal cost: getting rid of the first little bit of risk/injustice/poverty/whatever is cheap and easy, and the next bit is a little harder, and eventually the cost of getting rid of the last parts is so high as to destroy society trying.
This is exactly what is behind the collapse of common sense in law.
The point is entirely valid and applies in all areas of political debate. “Homeland Security” provides yet another compelling example. Some threats can be eliminated rather inexpensively, or the costs of eliminating the threat are less than the costs imposed by the threat. Other threats are so enormously expensive to eliminate that we simply have to live with them. Trying to eliminate them ends up costing so much in other ways that we kill ourselves trying.
The same applies to efforts to control crime, ensure that all criminals are punished, etc. In fact, the point applies to any evil that one attempts to eliminate from one’s life, or the collective life of society.
The window in my bedroom has a sticker that warns “Misuse could lead to injury.” Yeah.
I’ve been harping on this little point for a while–we’ve taken all the risk out of life. And when you take the risk out of everything, you not only take the reward out of a lot of things. Not only that, but you unintentionally tell people it’s OK to be devoid of common sense because lables and law suit will always be there to save us.
I can’t help but think of European Union laws that make it ILLEGAL for someone to sell ANYONE’s PERSONAL INFORMATION to a THIRD PARTY.
wow… and how incredible that identity theft in Europe is more or less non-existant.
but here in the capitalism capital of the world, where the bottom line is, well, the bottom line (corporate profit)… laws regarding sharing private personal information, more or less, do not exist. The result? One of the top in our collective national angst is… identity theft.
I could name hundreds of other examples of how greed and the love of money have made “common sense in law” an oxymoron here in the United States of America.
“The Death of Common Sense” could not be truer.
all the above are so true
I agree with Tim, and would add that the only real risks being taken in corporate America are the ones where the failures only hurt others, not the ones that are taking the risks with other people’s money, information, credit, future, etc.
There is no need for common sense if the risk doesn’t cost the one taking the risk anything. It’s just becomes “legalized” gambling. Millions or billions of dollars embezzeled or books cooked or 40 million credit card customers with their identity stolen.
The answer comes from the mouth of the spokesperson of the Credit Systems company that had the MasterCard credit card info stolen from them. “I can appreciate the anger of the affected customers.” Sounds like someone that risked everything risk-free.
The Death of Common Sense. It is easy when you risk what is not yours.