Leaving school in 1963 I joined the Central Statistical Office on a ‘sandwich course’ – part working on national income statistics (GDP then was about £35bn!) and part doing a Statistics and Economics degree. At that time John Maynard Keynes was the be-all-and-end-all of economic thought. He has come back into vogue. Darling’s budget was good Keynsian thought and under the circumstances was the best that could be done, I think. I guess that is why the budget itself came for little criticism from the other parties – Cameron concentrated on the economic conclusions and the other party’s ability or lack thereof in delivering. Based on the last 12 years record with Brown driving the economy, Cameron has a point.
But would Cameron, Osborne & Co do any better? I have my doubts. Is he capable of the radical thought that is necessary to restore this country to what it was before the Blair era? Margaret Thatcher had the courage to make the necessary changes to crush the stifling power of the unions.
Is there anybody in the line for political leadership who can dismantle the Blair/Brown central-planning-and-control with all its ramifications and replace it with one whereby the government provided the right environment for people to run tier own lives and proper? - That is to be a true Tory leader.
What is the role of government – local or national? It is to provide the environment where the people are secure and prosper. It is not normally to provide education, health care, finance or pensions. That means it should
- Legislate sufficiently to provide the rules of society, no more. This covers rights and responsibilities etc. The law can be quite compact and the units of society which have stood the test of time – family, locality, free religious, commercial or social association should not be interfered with.
- Protect the people from enemies – be they foreign states, terrorist groups or common criminals. This involves the forces for what is external and the police and adequate regulatory functions for what is internal.
- Administer justice in accordance with the law.
If there is anything else it is in ensuring the people have those facilities which cannot be provided for by the market. They need to ensure that infrastructure is there – education (an adequate standard for all), health care (an adequate standard for all), an income to provide for the basic necessities of life. People who want and can afford a better health service, better education or a better pension should not be penalised for paying for it themselves.
There are further things that ensure that the people of the country can benefit from its prosperity, but that are not commercially viable. By this I include raw scientific research and other projects which have too long a payback period for commercial undertakings at the moment (Changing the culture there is the subject for another essay).
Furthermore what is beyond me as a citizen – or beyond a commercial enterprise – is the overall international community. As I am a member of the local community, (and of several others) which in turn is part of the nation, the nation (say England) is part of a number of international groupings – the UK, the EU, NATO, OECD and the United Nations. So we entrust the government to represent us in contributing our part and to provide such assistance to foreign countries as is appropriate in our national interest. Over and above this, support is charitable, and we do not elect our political leaders to administer charity.
Other than that there is little for the government – or governmental agencies to do. That will cost the taxpayer much less. It will even enable the controversial 50% top rate income tax to be repealed. It will also employ less people. Those people must be retrained to work in the productive economy – developing, making, selling, delivering and financing products and services which people want and can afford. Expanding the productive economy will result in economic growth – perhaps in line with Mr Darling’s optimistic projections. Without the fixation on targets and league tables, without the surveillance the country will be a better place to live in too.
How Mr Cameron – who whoever will be around in a year or so’s time - can make this happen will be the subject of my next essay.
© Daniel Roberts – April 2009
Daniel Roberts is not a member of any political party and a committed Christian. He runs a web business, OPUSalbums.com in the photographic supplies industry. He is also author of Brand Freedom Day
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