In the study of George Washington

By Jim Stergios
October 3rd, 2008

At this moment in the Republic’s history, we can only look on the the current situation with the sadness of having stumbled upon a car wreck. The government’s recklessness with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is alarming — and should instill in us disgust at our irresponsibility. It should also alert us to the contamination of both private and public, when we do not clearly assert the responsibilities of each. Never again should a government-sponsored enterprise like Fannie be erected. I am willing to pay $700 billion for that, if we hold to it.

We must also recognize that undergirding the invisible hand that so many simply state as a belief lies the profound philosophy of Adam Smith that few know, from his The Theory of Moral Sentiments:

How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it. Of this kind is pity or compassion, the emotion which we feel for the misery of others, when we either see it, or are made to conceive it in a very lively manner. That we often derive sorrow from the sorrow of others, is a matter of fact too obvious to require any instances to prove it; for this sentiment, like all the other original passions of human nature, is by no means confined to the virtuous and humane, though they perhaps may feel it with the most exquisite sensibility. The greatest ruffian, the most hardened violator of the laws of society, is not altogether without it.

It seems to me that in government, and in the private sector we risk the entire enterprise of the Republic, of freedom and individual responsibility if we forget our need to “sympathize” with others, to recognize ourselves in them. Our Wall Street traders forgot that. Our representatives — above all Barney Frank — forgot that.

As a friend noted a few moments ago, we are in “a troubled state.” He sent this aphorism from George Washington — and there is no better summary of where are than this:

Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.

It is Friday afternoon. Quiet. Time to turn out the light.