John Stossel has a terrific column today in which he explores the allure of believing in fantasies. If people choose to believe in astrology and the like, it doesn’t do much harm to the believer and none to the rest of us. The problem is that so many people believe in political fantasies: the government can cure poverty, the government can keep us all healthy, the government can stabilize the economy, and so on. Believing in those leads to waste of resources and the loss of freedom.