“So Ezra Klein wonders whether it’s better that a minority can block good policy or a majority can enact bad policy? Given the ’stickiness’ of bad policy (Ezra, in another post, suggests that corn and beef subsidies aren’t so wonderful but that there are structural incentives to retain them) one would think that inhibiting bad policy would be a good goal for either side of the aisle. So let’s stipulate a few general principles: 1. Government, by definition, is coercive. 2. Most government ‘programs’ (here defined as positive government acts rather than simple regulatory prohibitions or laws) expand the state and curtail personal liberty — at least to the extent that they must be paid for by non-voluntary means. 3. Therefore, government action is more likely to reduce individual liberty than increase it. 4. Finally, to a libertarian (one whose first principles are towards individual liberty), it is best to inhibit government action.” (02/17/09)