[Mr. Mojo]

The sad reality is NO ONE wants small government.

I think people like the idea of small gov't. But as you said, they just don't want to foot the bill. The electorate just ate it up when Clinton claimed that "the era of big gov't is over." He told them what they wanted to hear, and they believed the lie. Reagan campaigned most enthusiastically on a small gov't platform, and won both his elections by landslides (and lived up to his word better than any President in recent history). But neither of the Bush's ever said a word about small gov't. The idea (and practice) is completely against their world-view.

[goldstategop]

That's why politicians can offer the gravy train without ever once telling the voters how they plan to pay for it. And naturally cause there's no big price tag attached, its no wonder people take them up on it.