Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Bambi Burgers And Marginal Utility

A buddy of mine got some venison from his friend and grilled a couple of Bambi burgers. That first burger was awesome! It had tons of flavor and tasted just right.

I started in on the second burger. It was still pretty good. About half way in to the second burger, it was getting to be a bit much; a little too gamey.

Ultimately, I just couldn't eat the last couple of bites.

The marginal utility of my Bambi burger was very high to start out with. My enjoyment of the burger was outstanding to start with. The more venison I ate, the worse it tasted; I just didn't enjoy it much at the end.

The same is true with government. The marginal utility of government is high when it is small and restricted. In such a case, government might actually seem 'good'.

As government gets bigger and consumes more of our resources and restricts our rights more we might describe it acceptable but not as satisfying.

Now that our government is huge and out of control, we're generally dissatisfied with the very nature of government to the point that it is downright repulsive.

It is our responsibility to raise the marginal utility of government by restricting how much of it we get. If in fact government is so wonderful, then every aspect of our lives should be governed by a central authority. If it's possible to have too much government then we need to figure out what that balance is and take appropriate actions to put it there.

What is the appropriate scale of government in order to maximize our marginal utility?