There is nothing so simple that cannot be made more difficult

Column

Most business people are more familiar with KISS, an acronym meaning to "Keep it simple, Stupid." This originated as a principle of systems design, but then was co-opted by sales trainers as a sales tactic, meaning don't make a sales presentation more complicated than it needs to be. Less is better. But its original meaning as an engineering concept is a better starting point to aid us in an analysis of how and why the role and function of our 21st century government eclipses the intellectual grasp of even well-educated citizens.

The whole idea was for engineers to design something that the average mechanic could fix with the average mechanics toolbox. There is no point in making something so overly complex that a trained mechanic couldn't see the solution in a straight line from the source of the problem. At least that is the goal.

It is also helpful to look to icons of history for some guidance. In a way the KISS concept originated with them, but in fairness to our generation, those were dramatically simpler times without the layers of government and bureaucracy we have to deal with. So those thought leaders could more easily see in a straight line without having to fathom or explain away volumes of incomprehensible governmental regulations which confront modern day economists.

In this context government simplicity was clearly the plan of our Founders and Framers of the Constitution. They saw that straight line connecting the citizen with government, unencumbered by legions of bureaucrats. But those were uncomplicated times. Fundamental principles did not require complex rules. This was before the Industrial and Technological Revolutions in a country with a population of only 2.5 million – roughly the population of Chicago today. It would border on insanity to argue society does not need more "structure" to both analyze and harness all these mind-numbingly complex technological goodies efficiently, to produce the greatest value – meaning capital formation, investment and jobs.

For reasons that defy logic, even while recognizing the enormous increase in population and the complexities of industry, commerce, foreign affairs and our daily lives, rather than "partnering" with state, local governments and the private sector along constitutional guidelines, the federal government insists on having all the power lodged in Washington. There are simply too many pieces and moving parts to be managed under one roof.

A centralized government cannot manage an economy of our size, plus the cradle to grave activities of everyone within its borders. Progressive ideology gives new meaning to the term "mission creep." History teaches us the folly of unyielding centralized power with the demise of the Roman and British empires and the Soviet Union.

Even Adam Smith, the father of economics, sensed the idea of an efficient market by keeping economics simple with "the invisible hand" of the individual indirectly promoting the good of society even though that individual would be acting in his own self-interest. Smith was a skeptic of government regulation, while at the same time recognizing the "collusive nature of business interests." An outspoken fan of "natural liberty, Smith could visualize that straight line between the invisible hand of the individual and a successful economy without the interference of the heavy hand of government.

The famous British macroeconomist, John Maynard Keynes, believed that the private sector was too inefficient and couldn't cope with the economic issues of the day. A platform of centralized national planning resulted in a stunning victory by the British Labor party in 1945. Later in life he realized that micromanaging large economies at the federal level was even more inefficient. And in those post-war years, technology, as we now know it, was primitive. At a luncheon the year following the election, just before his death, he suggested Adam Smith's somewhat simplistic theory would have been a better solution to Britain's faltering economy: "I find myself more and more relying for a solution of our problems on the invisible hand which I tried to reject from economic thinking twenty years ago."

A large segment of well-educated Americans are yearning for a government whose scope and functions they can understand. ("Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn't permanent.")

Consider the tax code. There are all sorts of serious reform proposals such as the flat tax and fair tax, and even the VAT, all to make the process understandable – rather than the unintelligible language, endless loopholes and mountains of forms. Concern is also mounting over the government takeover of healthcare. Extensive regulations trump the authority of the states and the private sector. The list and scope of federal initiatives is endless.

Look at it this way. There are 24,000 motivated, ideological people in Washington just working as congressional staffers on all those committees. Not to forget the 1.7 million federal employees (excluding security agencies), of which 97.6 percent work for the executive branch of government. Right now that means the Obama administration.

All these well-educated, intelligent people are more than anxious to tell us how to live our lives or run our businesses.

Getting back to another of the icons of history, Voltaire, a French enlightenment philosopher, observed in 1764: "One always begins with the simple, then comes the complex, and by superior enlightenment one often reverts in the end to the simple. Such is the course of human intelligence."