Replies

The size of government will continue to grow for as long as the population and complexity continues to grow. Andy Griffen and Don Knotts might be just fine for Mayberry (c. 1950s), but once that town starts to grow they are going to need alot more help.

The key is to proportionately grow the private sector just as fast, or faster. That is where we are falling down; it is not that the public sector is growing too fast; rather the population is growing too fast (largely illegal immigration), and the domestic private sector is barely growing at all. Until we fix that the US will continue to grow ever more socialist.

What does growing population have to do with more govt? If that is the case, why have a Constitution in the first place. Also, the balance between private and public sector is something that escapes logic. I am not sure what you exactly mean by that, but I feel your premise is wrong.

The size of government will continue to grow for as long as the population and complexity continues to grow.

Your statement is not correct.

However, the reasons why are rather complex. Let me take a stab at it.

There are a variety of factors that impact the growth of government imho:

(1) Ideology

(2) Determination to limit the size of government

(3) Communication through education and the media of why small government is better than good government.

(4) The pervasiveness of political corruption.

I want to focus on the fourth one, because it is not discussed very often and I think it is the reason why the GOP cannot and will not reduce the size of government. Do you remember the HUD scandals during the Reagan administration?

Everyone thought when Reagan was elected he would gut HUD. Instead he installed a gang of crooks in that agency as a reward to political contributors. Republicans tend to view "stupid" agencies as a place where they can give corruption free reign. To abolish such agencies limits their opportunities to "help their friends".

This has nothing to do with "growth" or "complexity" or anything like that. HUD is a stupid idea in a small simple society. It is a stupid idea in a large complex society, and every society in between.

The same can be said for the Department of Education and hundreds of other federal agencies, large or small.

The failure of the Republicans to abolish "any" of them with Congress under their control tells us a lot about problems (1) through (4), and nothing about the complexity of society.