April 22, 2026
The Measure of a Man
By: Idaho Freedom Foundation President-Emeritus Wayne Hoffman
House Bill 461, introduced late in the 2025 legislative session, would have required the state to run an analysis of the Idaho Launch program to determine its effectiveness. I won’t bore you with all the details, but essentially the question is: “Does this program help the state the way Gov. Brad Little and other proponents promised it would help the state?”
If you don’t remember, in 2023, the governor asked for, and the Legislature approved, a law to spend tens of millions of dollars on giving up to $8,000-per-applicant grants to high school graduates who pursue training for a state-designated “in-demand” career. These careers include everything from office clerks to welders to HVAC installers and nursing assistants.
Politicians might consider the program to be “successful” if students follow through on their training and the state gets a return on the taxpayers’ investment. While ordinarily such a review might be considered desirable in a business context, government is not a business. Therefore, it is important to consider one other important factor that defies the kind of measurement government officials tend to look for: What harm does this do to the individual’s personal path toward human flourishing?
We are all born with unique gifts and talents, and it is an inherent right to pursue those gifts and talents in any way that’s peaceful. Yet Launch intervenes in this process. It is designed to be highly compelling to a high school student who enjoys free money. A young person might want to be an entrepreneur, artist, musician, or candlestick maker, but the strong financial incentive risks steering him toward the state’s list of “in-demand” careers.
This, then, can interfere with the very fabric of a person’s being, potentially taking him on a path of pursuits that may not align with his deepest calling, which the government cheers on. He might, then, be completely miserable in the job he’s been guided toward, but the government can be satisfied that, according to its spreadsheet of cost versus return on investment, one of the state-selected job categories got filled.
Shaping someone’s life in this manner becomes a dangerous thing. Sure, the government’s data would show that there are fewer job openings. The in-demand careers have all been filled. Warm bodies now occupy the designated cubicles and professions, and this is reflected in the state’s accounting of the program’s supposed success.
But at what cost? Did the government’s influence on his life trajectory leave a person in a job he never would have considered but for the government’s incentive? Did it affect his relationships? His pursuit of marriage? His mental or physical health? Will we ever know? Will we ever care to know?
When we put the state ahead of the individual, the results get messy. Lives are irrevocably altered. Humans struggle to flourish when their life’s pursuits are put on hold or redirected to satisfy political workforce targets. And this is the result that defies measurement, but it is perhaps the most important one of all.
This article first appeared on the Idaho Freedom Foundation’s website, here.
