What We Need Is Not a More Capable Government, but a Smaller Government

The snap presidential election in 2017 was, more than any other election, one marked by a strong yearning for a “capable government.” Faced with the major challenges of the times—slowing growth, a demographic cliff, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution—people wanted an active government that could actually do something. Most believed this was a time when the role of government was critically important. And then the Moon Jae-in administration came to power.

The Moon Jae-in administration has responded quite faithfully to the series of demands voiced during that snap election. It has actively created new government ministries and intervened in the market. But, as everyone knows, the results have not been particularly good. The economy has grown steadily more difficult, while social anxiety and conflict have only intensified.

So what should the government have done, and what should it do going forward? If the Moon Jae-in administration works even harder, will the economy improve and society once again become stable and integrated? Certainly not. The reason the Moon Jae-in administration’s performance has been underwhelming is, rather, because it “worked too hard.”

The Moon Jae-in administration was launched with the good intention of realizing “a nation worthy of its name.” But the more the government expands its care and concern for individuals and the market, the more society loses its autonomy and vitality.

People who once improved their lives through their own autonomous judgment gradually come to depend on government subsidies and support. Fewer people are willing to take risks. Everyone comes to pursue only what they have always done, only what is stable. In that way, growth slows and adaptation becomes sluggish.

When government fails, the impact is broad and enormous. It is different from individual failure. When an individual fails, the responsibility is usually small enough for that person to bear and recover from on their own. But when government fails, it is different. Not only does it fail on a large scale, but the people end up bearing the real cost.

It is not the government but we ourselves who suffer from the government’s wrong decisions. That is why the more the government interferes in the private sphere, the more rigid society becomes and the more the people suffer. In fact, what the Moon Jae-in administration should have been doing all along was removing unnecessary protection and interference.

Our society must now adapt to the rapid currents of change and regain its vitality. To do so, we must never overlook the importance of the market, because diversity is created in the market. And diversity is an essential element for adaptation and growth. If the government intervenes by setting detailed guidelines under the idea of “responding” to the currents of change, adaptation becomes more difficult and the possibility of growth is inevitably blocked.

We need to become a society in which people can succeed on their own terms within the market, and also recover from failure through their own efforts. Only then can we become a dynamic society, a growing society.

Now the government must become smaller. For too long, our society has been too deeply fixated on the mistaken goal of a “capable government.” Government has continued to expand, and every time political power has changed hands, the same problems have been repeated.

As history has shown, the public sector in our society remains a breeding ground for inefficiency and corruption. The key to riding the wave of change and opening a second “door of miracle” lies not with the government, but in our own hands. What we need now is a “small government.”

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 유능한 정부가 아니라, 작은 정부가 필요하다

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2020-01-27

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&pn=23&idx=22321