Adam Clayton Powell IV, my hero

Posted by Marc Hodak on May 25, 2007 under Invisible trade-offs | Read the First Comment

Adam Clayton Powell IV, assemblyman from East Harlem, has been accused of being the laziest legislator in Albany. As reported in the New York Sun:

Of the thousands of bills introduced this year, Mr. Powell can take credit for not a single one. If Mr. Powell doesn’t introduce a bill in the next month, he will have made it through three consecutive session years without acting as the prime sponsor of any piece of legislation.

I’m not sure how Powell slipped through. I guess being the son of a legendary politician gives you a big edge in the election game. But somehow, we now have a libertarian’s fantasy–a legislator who doesn’t believe in making new laws.

Most institutions create more rules than than they destroy. Their rules keep piling up. In the private market, a company will either have leaders regularly cleaning out the rules, like when Jack Welch took GE’s huge procedure manual and simply threw it in the trash, or the firm eventually collapses under the weight of its rules, left in the dust of its more nimble competitors.

The government, of course, can’t go out of business. So, if you believe that it’s possible to have too many laws, then one can’t view the current trend as a good one. In fact, your only prayer is someone like Adam Clayton Powell IV.

So, how does he get away with it? This is someone who mysteriously gets elected on something other than a promise to do something. This is a politician who apparently doesn’t stand up to be heard. Here is someone who apparently has little interest in telling other people what to do. This man, if mere mortal he be, somehow resists the lobbyists and activists, media crusaders and other assorted, professional busybodies who place incredible pressure on every one of our representatives, promising them funds and publicity and god-knows-what, so they can get state power behind some pet initiative that would clearly fail to get the voluntary support of their fellow citizens or pass any kind of market test.

Adam Clayton Powell IV, as long as your streak lasts, you are my hero.