Where Does Democracy Take Us?

Pratt's excellent post related to my earlier post on growing government provides a summary of literature related to the issue. It seems inevitable that politicians curry favor by redistributing income and wealth; by transferring income/wealth to a concentrated few and away from a diffuse many, political power increases. The Hayekian view of changing opinions and attitudes on the Road to Serfdom is very important for today. I came away from a recent Liberty Fund conference on redistribution quite convinced that democracy inevitably leads to big government. Based on one simple Article of the US Constitution only, the Welfare and Commerce clauses, the statists have been able to dramatically change the national direction from the intention of most of the founders. IF democracy inevitably leads to big government, either in the form of crony capitalism or socialism or elements of both, is there a way to change direction?