May 17, 2010 10:21AM # The Mote in Paul Krugman’s Eye By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE [Paul Krugman says libertarianism is not a serious political philosophy](http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/why-libertarianism-doesnt-work-part-n/) because politicians are corruptible, do stupid things, *et cetera*. My colleagues [Aaron Powell](http://www.aaronrosspowell.com/blog/paul-krugmans-corrupt-confusion) and [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/2010/05/14/krugman-and-libertarianism-and-political-power/) demonstrate why that’s a bigger problem for Krugman than for libertarians: Krugman’s statism wouldn’t make politicians any less ignorant or corruptible, it would just give those ignorant and corruptible politicians more power. I made the same point to Krugman during [a health care debate](http://intelligencesquaredus.org/wp-content/uploads/Health-Coverage-091608.pdf). He complained that Republicans complain that government doesn’t work, and then they get elected and prove themselves correct. (It’s a good line, but I think he stole it from P.J. O’Rourke.) I responded, “Unless you have a plan to abolish Republicans, they’re part of *your* plan. Maybe we can put them in camps?” Krugman seems impervious to the point. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).