The cost of government
This may be illustrated by comparing the position of a nation with
that of a private business enterprise. An enterprise has to incur
certain costs and expenses in order to stay in business. For our
purposes, we are concerned only with one kind of cost -- the cost
of managing and administering the business. Such administrative
overheads in a business are analogous to the cost of government in
a nation. The administrative overheads of a business are low to the
extent that everyone working in the business can be trusted to
behave in a way that best promotes the interests of the firm. If
they can each be trusted to take such responsibilities. and to
exercise such initiative as falls within their sphere, then
administrative overheads will be low. It will be low because it
will be necessary to have only one man looking after each job, then
the business will require armies of administrators, checkers, and
foremen and administrative overheads will rise correspondingly. As
administrative overheads rise, so the earnings of the business
after meeting he expense of administration, will fall; and the
business will have less money to distribute as dividends or invest
directly in its future progress and development.
It is precisely the same with a nation. To the extent that the
people can be relied upon to behave in a loyal and responsible
manner, the government does not require armies of police and civil
servants to keep them in order. But if a nation is disunited, the
government cannot be sure that the actions of the people will be in
the interests of the nation; and it will have to watch, check, and
control the people accordingly. A disunited nation therefore has to
incur unduly high costs of government.
RAYMOND FROST The Backward Society
插入表情