19 May 2019
In Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (and probably other disciplines as well), a positive feedback loop can be disastrous. For reference, see “Galloping Gert” and “Marching in Step” or just listen to the amp’s complaints when the microphone gets too close to the speaker.
With public policy, the principle remains the same, but because the damage is distributed throughout the body politic, the catastrophe is harder to discern, but it is just as disastrous. Witness the effects of prohibition, as it engenders increasing destruction:
Step 1: Prohibit the possession, production, or importation of “X.”
Step 2: Witness the free (“black”) market response to prohibition as resourceful entrepreneurs develop means to satisfy the surviving demand for “X” and the violence that emerges to protect the subsidized profits for providing “X.”
Step 3: Point to the free (“black”) market and the emergent violence that accompanies its illegality as evidence of the inherent criminality of “X.”
Step 4: Return to Step 1 but enhance the prohibition with additional sanctions.
Saturday Night Live’s skit about “Ex-Police” perfectly illustrates this loop: “Another marihuana-related death,” said the home invader (Dan Aykroyd) after he pummeled the hapless pothead (John Belushi) into paste.