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Sometimes the opposite of a bad policy is one the public hates even more.
It’s the biggest temptation in politics. We see a terrible policy being pursued by our political opponents and decide the solution is to go even harder in the opposite direction.
On one level, this is logical. If the party in power is doing something harmful, we certainly need to change course and try to correct the damage. The trouble comes when we decide it isn’t enough to end the bad policy; we want to punish the people who put the policy in place. That’ll teach them! When voters and politicians succumb to this temptation, they push for maximalist and vindictive measures—creating a whole new set of problems.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the Wall Street Journal
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James B. Meigs is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.