The hoariest chestnut in the larder of anti-government conservatives is that government should be run like a business. This assertion is typically just a stalking horse for policies that narrowly benefit conservative patrons — lower taxes on corporations and the wealthy, less regulation, the contraction of social programs … you know the list.
President Obama frequently has pushed back against this viewpoint, most forcibly in remarks last week at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. The White House Frontiers Conference on Thursday aimed to promote the administration’s initiatives in science and technology, but Obama took a couple of moments to remind his audience of high-tech adherents that while Silicon Valley may produce lots of cool stuff that can improve our lives, its methods are no substitute for the principles of government. Let’s hear him out, at length:
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