I was reading this morning about the never ending financial problems in Spain, Greece, and Portugal. These problems along with all of the countries and states who are following down the same path have left everyone in a general state of malaise and Greece’s election of neo-Nazis to their parliament aggravated it. This is an auspicious sign for the world. Our grand experiment with socialism and big government solutions is winding down and there is not much we can do about it. Fixing it will require politicians to make hard and unpopular choices. This leaves an opening for fascism. One of Hayek’s great concerns in the Road to Serfdom was that socialism would lay the groundwork for a return to fascism. Socialism is temporary state for someone intent on accumulating political power. All of this reminded me of this old nursery rhyme.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.[1]