A Little More Government Would Cure DABC Problems?

Too often, we step in with more government when something goes wrong.

So, it should be no surprise that as a result of the fraud and corruption found in the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, there's a move to add more government to the existing pile of government in order to pull things under control.

The legislature is considering giving the DABC its own auditor. Now, an auditor just for that department might, indeed, solve the problem. It would seem if you have a person whose sole function on an 8/5 basis (not 24/7, but 8/5 is quite alot, being full time) is to look at your books and audit your doings, he or she ought to catch any and everything.

But, if an auditor just for the DABC is such a good idea, why not have one for every state department? That would be overkill, wouldn't it? If the DABC is being singled out, it must be that that department is just not trusted. I would suggest there is nothing inherently wrong with the DABC that isn't inherently wrong with any other state agency. There is no more need for the DABC to have its own auditor than for all other agencies to each have their own.

The proposed bill would also expand the state liquor commission from five to seven members. That's not much of an expansion of government, but I still object.

So, leave the membership at five. As for an auditor, instead of creating a new auditor's position just for the DABC, use your elected state auditor. Assign that person to make the DABC a concern that won't be overlooked.

If you already have a government officer to fill a role, why create another to do the same thing? Government will never be small as long as we double it everytime something goes wrong.

While the easy solution is to add more government, the real solution is to add more vigilance. This goes beyond the elected state auditor. It means all the elected and appointed government leaders who become concerned need to take it upon themselves to be more vigilant, to accept responsibility for watching the chicken coop, so to speak. If a chicken farmer were to discover his chickens were getting out, he could do one of at least two things. One, he could hire a security guard to come and watch the coop 24/7, or, two, he could do his own searching and find how the chickens were getting out and just fix the problem.

When fraud is found in government, vigilance, not more government, is sometimes the better answer.