The possibility of a desirable minimal state

Conclusions

There is a near consensus that organized special interests use influence to expand government into activities that are detrimental to the public at large. Consequently, as Lee (1989) suggests, it would be desirable if the general public had more control over political decisions — if government were more responsive to the “public interest.” However, the “public interest” like rent-seeking, is a subjective concept (Pasour, 1987).

The possible existence of a desirable minimal state is not disproved by an approach that assumes utilities are interpersonally comparable. Individual utilities are subjective and ordinal and hence, cannot be added or weighted to determine the level of government that is socially optimal. If one accepts the subjectivist approach, it follows that no one can decide upon any policy whatever in the absence of an ultimate ethical or value judgment (Rothbard, 1982: 212). In this respect, determining the “desirable minimal state” is no different from determining whether an individual government program is desirable (or whether it represents rent-seeking waste).

The minimal state may be appealing in part, as Lee suggests, because it is beyond our reach. However, it remains to be shown that if the minimal state were possible it would no longer be desirable.