Actually, the mess of Somalia is directly, exactly, specifically and indisputably caused by big government.
In the 1960s Somalia was nothing like it is now.
In 1969, seeking to fulfill a social contract to serve the "greater good", Socialist Major General Mohamed Siad Barre, leader of the government army, seized control of government from the civilians and had the elected President shot.
Barre, a Lt Colonel and the Chief of Police led the Somali government. They established the Supreme Revolutionary Council and the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party.
This socialist party decided to make large scale infrastructure a priority. It also "redistributed" land holdings from "the rich" to national ownership. They sought to have government control means of production and they set up co-op farms and factories in the interest of fairness. The main stated priorities were social progress and equality.
In 1972, the socialist government ended private healthcare practices and announced universal "free" healthcare.
Predictably, eventually the socialists grew the government so large that it became a massive and corrupt bureaucracy that ran out of other people's money....collapsing in the mid 1990s and leaving the Somalia we see today.
Even today Somalia claims to offer Free Universal Health Care and many other benefits to the people. Indeed. If you love the results of big government, please, move to Somalia.
Bruce Fenton
