The Good-People Syndrome; P. D. Russell

Then the Ayatollah (the revered Dr. Ru...III. Profe.aor of Management, School of Bu.lne ••Admlnl.tratlon, University of Wlscon.ln at La Cro.... 410 leader of the religion of the majority of his people) gained political control of the nation. He immediately began approving the confiscating of prop erty from the rich and giving it to the poor, the kidnaping of hostages for ransom and blackmail, the re stricting of minority religions throughout the land, and the public execution of ((traitors and other enemies of the Iranian people." To show their approval of the Ayatollah's particular brand of free dom and justice, the Iranian people voted overwhelmingly for a new constitution that made him dictator for life. Apparently they felt they could safely entrust their lives to such a good man. The universal appeal of this per suasi ve idea of gi ving political power to ((goodpeople" to be used for the benefit of everyone has always been with us. It was an alreadyTHE GOODPEOPLE SYNDROME 411 popular literary theme in ancient Greece when the philosopher Plato developed it into the political theory still studied by students of govern ment in all nations today. We hear it everywhere in the United States in this popular political maxim: If we elect good people to public office, we'll have good government.

Goodness and Power As I watched the unfolding of the most recent disaster to the Iranian people, the thought struck me that perhaps most of the evil in this world is committed by good people who are sincerely trying to help. Let it never be forgotten that the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini is a good man who is quite willing to make every personal sacrifice in his sincere efforts to help his people. He does not wish to become rich from his efforts. When he refers to him self as a servant of God and of the people, he is totally sincere. He has always worked hard and lived fru gaIly. He devotes much time to prayer. He would be called a good man in any nation and age. Invariably, however, these good people become corrupted by the political power they possess to help others. The fact that they may be deeply religious seems only to in crease the terror they use to do good as they understand it..To see this, you need only study the history of the Christian church (or the history of any religion) and note what hap pens when the religious leaders gain political power. Usually the corrup tion appears immediately. But sometimes it doesn't appear in a virulent form for a few months. In evitably, however, this corrupting influence of power always appears, and the terror begins in one form or another. Even the leader of all Christians, Jesus Christ himself, recognized that fact when he indi cated that the corrupting influence of earthly political power applied to him also. Thus he refused to accept it, even though he was tempted by the possibility of using it for a good purpose.

A primary reason that helps me to better understand this goodpeople syndrome (as well as to appreciate the corrupting nature of power and the desire for it) is that I once suf fered from it myself. There was a four-year span in my life when I truly wanted to do good for the American people (and for the world in general) and wished I had the political power to accomplish my good intentions. I was 16 years old at the time. I had just gone through a dramatic religious experience and I was firmly convinced I had discovered a sure way (and probably the only way) to eternal life. As a dedicated youngman, I felt a responsibility to share my good fortune with my fel lowmen. That's the nature of the 412 THE FREEMAN July goodpeople syndrome, Le., we want to share and to help the less fortu nate. We really and truly do, and we'll go to any lengths to ac complish it. Youthful Victims Probably all of us have endorsed this compelling syndrome to some extent at one time or another. We just wouldn't be human if we hadn't.

In my classroom discussions with those wonderfully idealistic stu dents between the ages of 17 and 23, I encounter this goodpeople syn drome all the time. Most of those students truly want to help their less fortunate fellow-humans all over the world. And some of them literally lust for the power of gov ernment to do good to mankind. They are beautiful people. I respect them and wish them well. And I also suggest to them that the desire to use political power to do good to people is bad for everyone's health, including their own. While young people are perhaps more susceptible to this emotional goodpeople syndrome than are older people, it's a mental aberra tion that can strike at any age. And it can last from a few days to a lifetime. The Ayatollah Khomeini at age 80 has a far more severe case of this syndrome than I ever had in my teens. But I can better understand the irrational thought processes and abnormal actions of that elderly leader because I remember so well the devastating effect the syndrome had on me as a youth.

Beginning with my teenage reli gious experience and continuing for several years thereafter, I would have been happy indeed to enforce a law that compelled everyone in the United States to join the tt one true religion" I had accepted. I only wanted to help! And the idea of a government-enforced religion ap pealed to me then, just as it has appealed to many millions of Ameri cans before me and still today. My reasoning at that time was as fol lows: ttlf I were blind to the truth like so many of my misguided neighbors, I would surely want them to do to me what I wanted to do to them-for their own good, of course." Fortunately for all con cerned, I didn't have the power to impose my fantasies (my syndrome) on others. In a like manner, the Ayatollah Khomeini will unhesitatingly use whatever means he has available to con vert or destroy anyone who stands in the way of the advance ment of his true-theological political-system. Unfortunately, the Ayatollah has the political power to carry out many of his fantasies.

As often as not, the possessors of this goodpeople syndrome are fully prepared to die (literally) for what they believe will help other people. For example, I honestly believe that, 1980 THE GOODPEOPLE SYNDROME 413 at age 16, I was prepared to give up my life if that became necessary in my campaign to save the immortal souls of others. The Ayatollah Kho meini has stated several times that he expects to be killed because of his religious beliefs and the political ac tions that are inspired by them. In short, the motives of us victims of this syndrome are unselfish and pure. We are truly good people who only want to help. And we are fully prepared to pay a high price person ally for our beliefs and our desire to serve the people. Strangely, only good people seem to become possessed by this particu lar mental abnormality. This is so much the case that I have here named this syndrome in honor of all good people everywhere who want to use political power to do good to others. While bad people, Le., mur derers and rapists, can also suffer from this syndrome, they seldom offer it as an excuse for their anti social and destructive behavior. But our very best people, i.e., those who are most eager to do good to man kind, almost always use the good people rationale to defend their ac tions. The fact that their programs don't work as advertised doesn't seem to distress them in the least.

The failures aren't their fault! And since they're good people who are sincerely trying to help, they're al ways willing to try again. This goodpeople syndrome has existed as long as mankind. It came with us; the first human beings to appear on earth were born with the desire to do good to others as they saw it. It is clear to me that this inherent emotion and compulsion was (and still is) necessary for the preservation of any sort of viable social order and for the survival of the human race itself. The absence of this compulsion, Le., the absence of any desire to do anything at all to help any other human being, would obviously mean the end of mankind. Thus the only workable procedure we have (individually and then col lectively) is to learn to control this inherent desire to impose our wills on others-even when we think it's for their own good. I'm convinced this can be done because, to some considerable ex tent, I've actually learned to do it, Le., I have resolved never again to use force or the threat of force (legal or illegal) to impose my will or viewpoint on any peaceful person.

And I actually live by that principle to the full extent permitted by polit ical reality and my own all-too human fallibility. Thus while I may sometimes deviate from my own principle, at least I have a clear reference point and a basic guide to help me select the best alternative among the available choices. Perhaps we could learn to follow this ideal: Let us help others by doing for them what they want done; if we 414 THE FREEMAN can't Or won't, then at least let us have enough respect for humanity to leave them alone. It's simply not a good idea to try to make over another human being in your own image. It can't be done and, anyway, one is enough. Do you suppose this inherent goodpeople syndrome that causes us to try to impose our wills on others for their own good could be the ttoriginal sin" we're born with? At least that possibility would offer a logical explanation for those famil iar .allegories in all religions that tell us about cupidity and arrogance and ignorance-and the fall that comes with them. i IDEAS ON UBERfY Popular Causes and Unpopular Effects IT is being discovered that good intentions are not enough. If good intentions are to accomplish anything, they must be translated into concrete economic measures, and such measures mayor may not produce the intended effects. Even if they do, they are almost sure to produce unintended ones as well. Where some groups are benefited, others are hurt. Competition for productive efficiency tends to degener ate into a scramble for political favor. Government of, by, and for the people tends to become government of, by, and for pressure groups. The promise of cradle-to-grave security weakens economic incentive, tends to make men financially irresponsible and reduce them to the moral level of dependent children. Why should a man strain nerve and muscle to provide for himself, to keep his job, to lay something by for a ««rainy day," to make provision for his old age, to protect his family from want, when a paternal state promises to do these things for him? Every personal financial misfortune, every source of dissatisfaction with one's economic lot, tends to become a grievance against the State ....

When our own and other governments assumed or accepted the responsibility of protecting the people against the risks of unemploy ment, disability, old age, and other hazards, they built into their economies an inflationary bias against which they are still striving, in most cases with very ind~fferent success, and which, unless arrested, must eventually bring hardship rather than welfare, insecurity rather than security, to the intended beneficiaries. From The Guaranty Survey, November 1957, Albert C. Wilcox, editor George Reisman PROGRESS INA FREE ECONOMY THE FREE MARKET, operating through the profit motive, has been respon sible for the tremendous success of the American economic system. It has ensured the maximum possible effort to introduce innovations and to extend their application as rapidly as possible, with the result that in comparatively short periods of time revolutionary improvements have become commonplace. Because of this and because of the rapid adaptation it assures to all changes in economic conditions, it has ren dered every crisis, from natural dIS asters, to wars, to absurd acts of government, a merely temporary Dr. Reisman Is Associate Profenor of Economics at Pepperdlne University In Los Angele8.