The Origins of Public Omnipotence: Confusing “Public” and “General”

Because the state is a powerful authority capable of doing anything, the normative belief that whatever the state does must not be wrong gradually degenerated into the idea that the state can handle everything correctly, and for a long time that notion dominated people’s thinking.

As it began to be proven that state omnipotence was mistaken, what quietly reappeared under a different name was public-sector omnipotence.

The argument that the world’s troublesome problems will naturally be solved if they are left to the public sphere is simply the already discredited doctrine of state omnipotence dressed up in a new name.

Because the doctrine of public-sector omnipotence cannot win trust on the strength of its name alone, it appeals to the public through the political slogan of opposing privatization.

That is, it argues that areas necessary for public welfare cannot be addressed through privatization and therefore require a public service system.

Here, a leap in logic enters through confusion over the meaning of a word. The word public can mean the general sphere, but it can also mean the sphere of government organizations.

When we accept the claim of public welfare as a normative principle, what actually takes hold in our minds is the meaning of general welfare.

But the real meaning of public welfare as used by those making such claims is not general welfare, but the content of services related to specific objectives in which government organizations take a direct interest.

It is, of course, a mistake to believe that only actions intentionally directed toward collective goals serve common needs. Everyone knows that a free society has been formed and developed on the basis of beliefs that overcame precisely such errors.

The only reason public services appear unproblematic is that the inefficiency peculiar to government organizations, and the harm resulting from it, are not visible.

The most frightening aspect of something being labeled public is precisely this: it explains why it took time for rationing societies centered on the distribution of essential goods to collapse, and why even after their collapse there still remains an older generation that longs for them.

2023.7.11 Nam Sangmin

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Original title: 공공(公共)만능론의 기원- public과 general의 혼동

Author: Jayujuui Ipmun Dokseotoronmoim

Date: 2023-07-11

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=reading01&pn=2&idx=25873