Ottawa proves it again – Human is as stupid does: Philip Cross in the Financial Post

In trying to understand events in Ottawa over the last few days, an analytic schema devised by the economic historian Carlo Cipolla may be useful. In 1976 Cipolla, who divided his time between Berkeley, California, and his native Italy, published an essay with the intriguing title, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. Penguin reissued it in 2011.

Cipolla drew up a classification scheme to clarify what is meant by stupidity and to try to explain the phenomenon’s seeming omnipresence. According to his schematic, human beings fall into one of four categories, depending on how their actions benefit society or themselves. The “Intelligent” act in ways that are helpful both to themselves and to the public. The “Helpless” also contribute to society’s well-being but without being able to profit personally, as exemplified by the starving artist. “Bandits” are harmful to society but their actions do at least enable them to support themselves. Then there are “The Stupid” — people whose behaviour is destructive to both themselves and society.

I suggest that Cipolla’s classification of humans can relatively easily be transferred to governments. Do their actions improve their society over the long haul while maintaining their popularity? Intelligent regimes govern well, both benefiting their country and solidifying their electoral prospects. This would apply to most Canadian governments re-elected with a majority, such as Mulroney’s in the 1980s, Chrétien’s in the 1990s, and Harper’s in 2011.

Helpless administrations adopt policies that are beneficial to society in the long run but unpopular in the short term. An example is Quebec’s Liberal government of Philippe Couillard, which on taking office in 2014 turned a $6-billion deficit into four consecutive balanced budgets but then paid a heavy price for spending cuts in the 2018 election. The latter years of the Mulroney government also meet the definition of Helpless. Initiatives such as replacing the manufacturing sales tax with the Goods and Services Tax and negotiating the ultimately unsuccessful Meech Lake Accord doomed it at the polls though in retrospect they were or could have been good for Canada.