Priorities, Schmiorities! We’re the Government

(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – Heaven forbid the government recognize that it cannot do everything for everyone! The New York Times had a story this weekend on proposals in the Nevada Legislature to cut spending for treating gambling addiction.

There is apparently a feeling among big-government types that not only does every government program continually need to expand, but with each discovery of a problem another program must be created, which can never be rolled back regardless of the circumstances. Senator Ben Kieckhefer was the object of some pointed criticism on the Internet for having the audacity to express the heresy that government should actually prioritize.

State Senator Ben Kieckhefer has proposed redirecting the other half of the slot machine money toward autism treatment programs that might also be on the chopping block. 

“Treatment for problem gamblers is a needed service, but there are private treatment options,” said Mr. Kieckhefer, a Republican from Reno. “When it comes to prioritizing the budget, I will take an autistic child over a problem gambler any day of the week.”

It is not and cannot be the duty of government to right every wrong and cure every affliction. It, too, has to work with limited resources.

It is a destructive fantasy to believe that government can be all things to all people. Government has nothing that it has not first taken from someone else. Its ability to obtain the wealth it spends on its programs is limited by the ability of its citizens to create it and each dollar that government takes reduces the ability of its citizens to create more.

So even government must develop priorities and operate within the constraints of available resources. Is autism treatment more important than treatment for gambling addiction? Would either one or both be better performed by the private sector? Is there something else that should be funded over both of them? Those are the debates that should be occurring, not attacking someone who comprehends the reality that there is a limit to what government can do.

(Michael Chamberlain is Executive Director of Nevada Business Coalition.)