Schaller in Baltimore Sun: “How the Government is Like Insurance”

Despite their differences, liberal blogger Ezra Klein and Bush-appointed former deputy treasury secretary Peter Fisher agree that the United States is essentially a large insurance conglomerate with a standing army, according to UMBC political science professor Thomas F. Schaller. In his latest Baltimore Sun column, Schaller writes: “So what does insurance have to do with government? Well, almost everything.” He ultimately argues, “Properly understood as a giant insurance company with a military behind it—a military that, again, is itself a form of insurance against various potential harms by outsiders—the federal government is thus both philosophically and operationally conservative.”