Wired

DIGG THIS

Libertarians write numerous articles about the disastrous effects of government policy, and how they fail the people they’re supposed to help. Such articles don’t necessarily find their way out to the wider world, or aren’t easily grasped by "regular" folk.

Season four of The Wire (HBO) offers the uninitiated a fictional portrayal of government policy in action. Fictional yes, but realistic too. Nothing else I’ve read or seen has shown me the impact of education policy on…

  • The people it’s supposed to help
  • The bureaucrats tasked with overseeing it
  • The teachers forced to carry it out in the classroom.

The Wire is not libertarian in intent. Neither does it offer middle-class sensibilities and easy ride through the world it portrays. Despite this, season four brilliantly illustrates how government policy fails, where it breaks down, and why.

I’ve read plenty of articles that talk about the same thing. Season four takes 13 hours to examine the nature and cause of the breakdown in a way that is accessible, complex, and makes for very compelling viewing.

The Wire is an excellent example of how to explain a counter-intuitive message: A change in government policy won’t fix any given problem because government policy is the problem.

A word of warning. The Wire is set in a violent and horrific world, and no punches are pulled for the sake of the viewer. This program is not for tender sensibilities. It’s also unlike any television program I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t spoon-feed the viewer, includes a bewildering array of accented Baltimore street-slang without explanation, and can make for very demanding viewing at times.

With the above warning in mind, I encourage you to seek out season four of The Wire on DVD and watch it right through.

June 9, 2008