What Makes a Good Government?

As political turmoil continues, the economic burden caused by government failure is growing heavy. Politics should be concerned with the lives of the people, yet instead the people are worrying about politics; the proper order has been reversed. This is a moment when political leadership must be restored.

When politics takes the economy hostage for power struggles, the lives of the people inevitably become more difficult. Politicizing every issue and turning everything into a sacrifice for political ends destroys social order. The principle of separation of powers among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches becomes blurred, and the basic order of the state can collapse.

Our economy’s foundations have weakened to the point that a crisis could strike at any time. The corporate sector has lost vitality, and the financial system is rigid. Even so, the institutional environment is worsening rather than improving, making the prospects for better economic conditions all the more dim.

We must again ask what makes a good government. If our society is to regain vitality, politics must recover its ability to improve the economic environment. We must build a foundation that allows economic actors to operate freely and pursue innovations that improve people’s lives.

The role of the legislature is especially important. Legislative activity that revives the corporate economy must be strengthened. Our National Assembly has expanded regulations for many years. Labor regulations have been tightened to a serious degree, while the burdens associated with taxes and environmental policy are also heavy.

When business activity is suppressed, markets contract, and both workers and consumers suffer the consequences. Now is the time to revive firms’ willingness to invest, increase competitive pressure in the market, and invigorate the corporate economy.

This is also a time when the role of each ministry within the executive branch needs to be redefined. It is highly suggestive that the United States, where more innovation occurs than anywhere else in the world, has decided to establish a “Department of Government Efficiency.”

Within our executive branch, which is marked by extremely strong rigidity centered on regulation, we should create a “Ministry of Regulatory Innovation” and reset the administrative goals of every ministry toward increasing the vitality of our society.

In particular, government committees should be transformed into bodies led by the private sector. The Financial Services Commission and the Fair Trade Commission have shown bureaucratic attitudes that are even more rigid and overbearing than those of ordinary government ministries. Rather than increasing market flexibility, they have fostered a government-led culture. They must demonstrate a complete transformation toward a private sector-led model.

The judiciary must stabilize the legal order so that the people’s freedom and property rights can be protected. When the judiciary becomes politicized and issues precedents aimed at driving social change, society instead falls into confusion. Conflict increases, and social integration is undermined. We must raise the level of the rule of law, the foundation of a stable society.

The higher the quality of politics, the greater the government’s contribution to society. This is a time when we need politics that builds a good government—one that succeeds in improving the lives of the people.

Our government’s legislative, executive, and judicial branches must expand the market and increase the vitality of society. I hope politics will become not a burden on our society, but a catalyst that enhances its vitality.

Sung-no Choi

President, Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 어떤 정부가 좋은 정부인가

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2024-12-29

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=27232