Google Chairman Eric Schmidt gets a lot of grief among conservatives for the liberal leanings of his company. But judging by this interview with The Washington Post, Schmidt sounds like a conservative in the making. Here is Schmidt on regulation:
And here is Schmidt on how Washington extorts money from corporations:
Compare Schmidt’s reality-based view of the federal government with Elizabeth Warren’s fairy tale:
Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea? God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
If only the federal government stuck to building roads and letting local governments supply police, fire, and education services. But of course, our federal government has grown way past a minimal state and is now doing everything from investing in solar companies to forcing people to buy government approved health insurance.
Describing Silicon Valley’s view of Washington in the early 90s, Schmidt says, “[A]t the time, we took the position of ‘hands off the Internet.’ You know, leave us alone. And that’s probably still the general view here. The government can make regulatory mistakes that can slow this whole thing down, and we see that and we worry about it.”
“Leave us alone.” That has been the conservative movement’s rallying cry regarding the federal government for generations.
Thanks to fellow George Mason University Law School alum Jerry Brito for the tip.
