Governance by true believers: supreme duties with and without totalitarianism

Abstract

This paper analyzes how governance by true believers differs from that by ordinary idealists and pragmatists. To do so, the paper develops a semi-lexicographic framework for analyzing behavior of persons who have internalized belief systems with "supreme" duties. It uses that framework to analyze the extent to which such duties tend to affect private behavior and demands for public policies. Bernholz's research on totalitarian systems demonstrates that many of the least attractive governments in human history have been motivated by totalitarian belief systems. This paper agrees with that conclusion but suggests that many other results are also possible and that some of the most attractive governments in human history also have been motivated by belief systems with supreme duties.

Federalism and pandemic policies: variety as the spice of life

“…If there are just three types of ideological theories, there would be three additional factors would affect voter assessments of the relative merits of alternative public policies. In this manner, 23 This terminology is worked out in Congleton (2020a), which contrasts "true believers"-persons whose norms determine most of their choices (saints, zealots, and totalitarians)-with "ordinary idealists", whose internalized norms influence rather than fully determine their choices. Congleton (2020a) focuses on the public choice implications of "true believers" rather than on "ordinary idealists", who are the focus of this section as well as in Congleton (2020b).…”

“…In this manner, 23 This terminology is worked out in Congleton (2020a), which contrasts "true believers"-persons whose norms determine most of their choices (saints, zealots, and totalitarians)-with "ordinary idealists", whose internalized norms influence rather than fully determine their choices. Congleton (2020a) focuses on the public choice implications of "true believers" rather than on "ordinary idealists", who are the focus of this section as well as in Congleton (2020b). 24 Ideological interests can be incorporated into the utility functions used in the first parts of the paper by adding another variable to the quality-of-life functions for each stage of life that accounts for the distance between the actual policy, S, and the voter's ideologically ideal one, S**, as in Congleton (1991) or Congleton et al (2017).…”

Leader Characteristics and Constitutional Compliance

“…Finally, political leaders with extreme ideologies may be less willing to comply with constitutions. Supreme values, which are preferred lexicographically to all other goals and believed to be absolutely true (Bernholz 2004(Bernholz , 2017, may declare some duties of government to be more important than even the survival of the state or its citizenry (Congleton 2020). Adherents to such ideologies would place the implementation of their own values above the rights of others (Gouda and Gutmann 2021).…”