Everything You Need to Know about Government, in One Story

A Toronto man who spent $550 building a set of stairs in his community park says he has no regrets, despite the city’s insistence that he should have waited for a $65,000 city project to handle the problem.

Explaining governmental boondoggles has got to be one of the easiest things to do — the public, or at least most of the public that doesn’t worship government — already understands the problem.

Yet Republicans and conservatives still fail to reach enough of their fellow Americans with the truth about how bad things are in so many policy areas. It’s called the information war, and learning about it is also easy if you click here.

Daniel J. Mitchell continues to be one of my most-linked authors on this website. Here he is writing at the Foundation for Economic Education:

Every so often, I run across a chart, cartoon, or story that captures the essence of an issue. And when that happens, I make it part of my “everything you need to know” series.

I don’t actually think those columns tell us everything we need to know, of course, but they do show something very important. At least I hope.

And now, from our (normally) semi-rational northern neighbor, I have a new example.

This story from Toronto truly is a powerful example of the difference between government action and private action.

“Retired mechanic Adi Astl says he took it upon himself to build the stairs after several neighbours fell down the steep path to a community garden in Tom Riley Park, in Etobicoke, Ont. Astl says his neighbours chipped in on the project, which only ended up costing $550 – a far cry from the $65,000-$150,000 price tag the city had estimated for the job. …Astl says he hired a homeless person to help him and built the eight steps in a matter of hours. …Astl says members of his gardening group have been thanking him for taking care of the project, especially after one of them broke her wrist falling down the slope last year.”

There are actually two profound lessons to learn from this story.

Read more: FEE.org

Image credit: www.ctvnews.ca.