An Open Letter To Statists Everywhere

A letter from Lawrence Reed, that is.  The president of the Foundation for Economic Education, an great organization you can check out here, wrote this letter nine years ago, but recently reposted it on his Facebook page because he finds it even more relevant today:

Dear Statist Friends:

I know, I know. You're already objecting to my letter. You don't like the label, "statist." You don't think of yourselves as worshipping government; rather, you think of yourselves as simply wanting to help people, with government being your most-often preferred means to achieve what is usually a very worthy end. "Statist," you say, is a loaded term—a pejorative that suggests an overweening, irrational kinship with the state.

Well, let's wait and see how the term stacks up after you've read the entirety of my letter and answered its questions. Meantime, if you have any doubt about whether this missive is directed at you, let me clarify to whom I am writing. If you're among those many people who spend most of their time and energies advocating a litany of proposals for expanded government action, and little or no time recommending offsetting reductions in state power, then this letter has indeed found its mark.

Read the rest of the letter (and consider sharing it with your own statist friends!) here.