I had a meeting recently with a government official about a project I was set to work on.  He opened the meeting with "What makes you an expert?"  I was to prove to him, right then and there, why I was qualified to do this project because, he said, he was paying my salary.  As the discussion progressed, it became obvious that he had very little knowledge of my area of expertise--yet there he sat in judgment.

This little episode explains a lot about why Ronald Reagan said government is not the answer--government is the problem.  If Congress passes its health care take-over bill, this little scene will be replayed all over America countless times.

The first problem is that this man had absolutely no experience outside of government.  He really couldn't comprehend the value of the efficiencies I would bring to his organization from private enterprise and the free market.  Cabinet appointees in the Obama administration have a shockingly low amount of experience outside of government:

Yet by virtue of his government position this man felt he had the ability and the right to judge whether I am an expert in my field or not.   My field has certified me as an expert, but that wasn't good enough for him.  Imagine now that bureaucrat judging whether you need a certain medical procedure or not.  Doesn't matter whether your doctor--an acknowledged expert in his or her field--has said you need it.  It's the government's opinion that matters.  read more »