The Daily Tar Heel
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The Daily Tar Heel

Spoiler alert: the Netflix version of House of Cards, produced by and starring Kevin Spacey, is highly entertaining. If you have Netflix, you should watch it. But when you watch it, keep in mind the characters’ behavior shows how not to act if you are working as an elected official or bureaucrat. Yes — I am about to use a fictitious show that I watched online to make a point about the way government works in reality.

Quick recap (spoiler alert): Protagonist Francis Underwood, House majority whip, is an ambitious and highly effective politician. Most legislation and leadership appointments come only after a long process driven by personal ambition and greed. Viewers come away from the show thinking: “I really hope government doesn’t work like that.”

The sad reality is that it does. Though I hope the instance where one congressman murdered another is pure fiction (spoiler alert).

The reality is, politicians and bureaucrats don’t magically become selfless stewards of the public good once they are in a position of public service. I think, thankfully, most people understand this. The internet and mass media have made it easier to expose instances of favor trading (though it’s still difficult to detect).

Public choice theory, a school of thought promoted by the likes of Nobel Prize-winning economist James M. Buchanan, and the idea of government failure are both well-documented phenomena. But thinking about these problems in a very intentional, systematic way is, I think, enlightening. And it helps shed light on the reason why government is consistently unresponsive and corrupt.

Buchanan famously called public choice theory “politics without romance.” These scholars look at the political sphere as a market, with self-interested agents. Everyday citizens hope to be promoted, take on more responsibility and take home a larger paycheck. What makes public servants any different?

But what’s best for the public and what’s best for the politician don’t usually match up.

As a result, big business, big labor and politicians work together to enrich and empower themselves to the detriment of the rest of us. Problems such as “rational ignorance,” the idea that citizens are perfectly rational to remain misinformed about the actions of politicians, and dedicated lobbyists make for a lethal combination. All the while, spending and debt inch up. Oh, and don’t think either political party is immune.

Perhaps I’m being too harsh. There are, of course, instances where good policy is also good politics — but these cases are few and far between.

So are you ready to take the streets because a new policy will cost us each $1? You bet the institution that stands to gain millions will — and you can also be sure that they’ll be well-organized and breathing down legislators’ necks. Google this: “concentrated benefits and disperse costs.” Also, Google Ron Paul.

So, do I have the solution? Nope. That’s what constitutional law is for.

Thanks, Obama.

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