You're Not That Smart

So, some lefty brought up the fact that libertarians are all victims of the Dunning-Kruger effect the other day on some website I shan't bother to name because I forgot which collection of deluded statists I was reading. This made me giggle.

A fundamental component of my distrust of the government and desire to limit the power of it comes from my intellectual arrogance. I have, according to J, a pretty severe case of smartest guy in the room syndrome. I'm fundamentally convinced, on an almost cellular level, that I am a lot brighter than most people.

Going along with my intelligence, I recognize the limits of my capabilities. I'm not smart enough nor do I know enough to make a global rule that should be universally applicable to everyone in this country about, say, what kind of health insurance they should buy. I also strongly believe the people doing their damndest to impose that rule on all of us aren't smart enough, either. Having met a wide selection of elected officials, bureaucrats, and government employees at all levels, I'm convinced the average person in government is about as qualified to tell me how to live my life as my dogs are.

So now you can understand why some asshat bringing up Dunning-Kruger makes me so amused. I may be intellectually arrogant, but I'm not so arrogant I think I, or anybody else, should be telling 307 million people how to manage their lives in exquisite, painful, and legally binding detail. Somehow, that makes me the one who can't recognize my own limitations. The irony is so thick you can melt it into ingots.