Shot by the Arrow

Shot by the Arrow

 

I doubt that perfect government is possible. Consider Kenneth Arrow’s “Impossibility Theorem”. It is a mathematical proof that no social choice function can always have all four of these virtues:

1) it is fair; it divides power equally,

2) it is decisive; it answers all question set to it,

3) it is linear; it has no illogical preference loops A>B>C>A,

4) it is responsive; it never defies a consensus.

 

Or in other words: any society, however constructed, must at times be unfair, or indecisive, or illogical, or perverse. Cruelty, weakness, folly, and perversity are political evils; so Arrow’s Theorem proves the inevitability of political evil.

The proof is mathematical; it has nothing to do with sin, or sex, or money, or power, or human nature, or what two kids stole from a fruit tree long ago. The theorem is cold, not hot; its diagnosis is impersonal. You can no more practice perfect government than you can draw a round square. It would apply even to a society of saints and angels.

In a way this is comforting: political evil isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault. But it’s also disturbing: political evil is necessarily everyone’s problem.