The Constitution and Football

Yesterday, I came across an interesting analogy about the role of government in our lives. Interesting, because the analogy spoke of government and the Constitution in the context of a game of football. I invite you to go and read the whole thing at Doctor Zero. A few excerpts below:

There are other choices besides anarchy, or a regulatory State that directly controls over half of our economy. Far from opposing all regulation, I maintain that clearly written, honestly enforced, minimally intrusive laws are both just and essential for wealth creation. A nation’s wealth lies in transactions between its citizens, and the pace of those transactions would be greatly reduced if consumers had no confidence in providers. Shopping malls would be considerably less active, if the shoppers had to assume every food product was potentially poisonous, every piece of consumer electronics could explode, and all of the merchants were thieves.

Now, mind you, the above is stated in the context of notions about capitalism. I'm not necessarily big on "wealth creation" as a motive. But I do desire the freedom to earn wages, and then to spend, save or invest those wages as I choose. I do want the government to ensure that I can continue to enjoy that freedom, and that predatory business practices are appropriately constrained. The author goes on to illustrate his analogy, in which the government plays the role of referee in the game. But as the parable progresses, the referee starts to take a more controversial, active role in the game: picking sides, changing the rules, and profiting from the results. His point is that for the many facets of the economy to function correctly, we need government to play the role of honest referee: ensure that rules are followed, but otherwise stay out of the game itself. He continues (emphasis mine):

By its very nature, government has access to power and resources which no private enterprise can equal. It can’t work any other way. We can’t treat the military as a business enterprise, to be shut down if it doesn’t rake in sufficient profits. We must have government resources to address disasters, and most citizens would insist the government be provided with funds to care for the desperately poor and sick. Those who enforce the law must have a measure of power beyond the law: sky marshals carry guns onto airplanes, soldiers have access to heavy weapons and high explosives, government auditors can demand access to information a business would never share with its competition.

To be trusted with such power and resources, the State must practice strict adherence to a basic set of laws which constrain its behavior, and which it cannot easily disregard or change. The rulebook for the American game is her Constitution. Fidelity to those rules would produce a small State with less influence to satisfy the appetite of hyper-competitive players who wish to cheat at the game… or its own appetite for purchasing votes and imposing its ideas of “fairness.” Disdain for the Constitution has led us to the present spectacle of referees who outnumber the players, unemployed players sitting dejectedly on the sidelines, and a dwindling number of investors willing to bet on a rigged game that will be decided by the whims of the officials.

Again, go read the whole thing. It's an interesting analogy that has a ring of truth to it. Although I wonder where the notion of "instant replay" comes in.

(h/t: HotAir)