Thread: Big Government?

What I want to know is why do you think Govt has gotten so big. I don't want a Liberal-Conservative slug feast here. Just your opinion. No attacks.

I think the reason Govt got so big is because our presidents are and have been a bunch of megalomaniacs looking to increase Govt to give them more power and control over the people and waste more money. I think Corporations have spent billions to increase Govt size so they could be constrained and not do whatever they wanted and I think people are sick and tired of Govt interfering with their freedoms by constraining corporations from doing good for the people. I think people want the Govt reduced. Why just look at this country during the late 1800s when Govt was small and everyone lived happy lives no worries about crime, corruption,false advertising, shoddy dangerous products, good transportation systems and roads. A time when companies took good care of their workers and shared the wealth and gave their employees safe working conditions and good pay and benefits. A time when everyone was treated equally and fairly no matter where you lived with equal opportunity for all,a time when people cared about each other and no one went without needing these ridiculous Govt programs, nonsense like Social Security, Medicare, SSI ,Welfare, food stamps and a host of others.A time when people were strong and provided for their own and had a sense of responsibility and an acceptance for their failures and took responsibility for that.

Yes we can shrink our Govt and return to those good old days. Think of all the money we would save. The budget would be balanced, the deficit gone and we would have a surplus. We could end the Income Tax.

are we talking about USA federal government or just governments in general? The fed in the US is big because there are hundreds of millions of potential voters who want and demand more and more services - at least, that's what it seems like

I think part of the issue is the assumption by the government that if all the banks/companies would have gone under like they should have we would be in a worse state then we are today. Now until someone creates a time machine and is able to test that theory we will never know.

You also have the lobbyist trying to get laws passed that benefit their cause most of them corporations looking to get rid of public domain and extending patents so they can forever milk a product.

Then again maybe people are seeing the benefit of a partially socialized society that other parts of the world have embraced so the roll of government is getting bigger because that is what the majority of voters want currently.

"The death of a Democracy will begin when the voters realize that they can vote themselves money from the general funds"

Don't know who said it first


edit:

Found it

This is what historian Alexander Tyler said about the fall of the Athenian Republic: “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy ….”

What Eisenhower said about the military/industrial complex came to pass. There is also the liberal agenda of providing all things to all people. The pols look our for #1 with earmarks such as bridges to nowhere to insure their reelection.

Add to that the old quote I used to see in the Viet Nam era,"You can't have guns and butter." You don't see that anymore but it is just as true now as it was then. Of course the Viet Nam era is ancient history now. May as well be the Peloponnesian War. No chance of learning the lessons of history so we are doomed to repeat. End of rant.

One reason our Government is growing out of control is the career politicians in the senate. The House of rep seem to be more in tune with the pulse of the nation and reflect what we want. We are not a true democracy, we never were, we have a republic.
The senate needs to have term limits and that would fix many of the out of control policies they keep adding on and never take away.
Government is a nasty, but needed expense and needs to get back to what it was made to do.
Strong defense, safety nets we can afford and get rid of the rest.

They keep dividing the electorate by color, sex, religion, and all of these other hyphenated categories. Divide and conquer, they have become the elite class while we fight over emotionally driven issues.

Ahh, the Spender's tongue is firmly planted in cheek.

"Why just look at this country during the late 1800s when Govt was small and everyone lived happy lives no worries about crime, corruption,false advertising, shoddy dangerous products, good transportation systems and roads. A time when companies took good care of their workers and shared the wealth and gave their employees safe working conditions and good pay and benefits. A time when everyone was treated equally and fairly no matter where you lived with equal opportunity for all,a time when people cared about each other...."

Democracy? No no, I think you mean Plutocracy.

I believe in small government as long as it does not affect the public services I use.

Respectfully, allow me to remind us about the good old days of the 1800's.

During the first 65 years of the century 4 million African Americans suffered under slavery. For more than 100 years after they were subject to Jim Crow laws. They lived under the threat of lynching the first 70 of those years.

Women were denied the vote in the vast majority of the nation before the 1920's.

During the 1800's people died of cholera and tyfoid before the advent of public sanitation.

During the 1800's Native American populations were nearly decimated and driven onto reservations where many still live in poverty.

The lumber barons stripped off the lumber in Michigan. The Railroad barons bought huge tracts of land from the government for nearly nothing even when you include the graft. The mine owners made mining the most dangerous job in the nation. The steel barons provided horrible work conditions for its workers and Henry Ford sped up the assembly to the point where auto workers were committing suicide rather than return to work.

These kings of industry did these things largely for their own benefit. Yes, they developed new science and products which have made life better. But their excesses led to laws designed to limit monopolies, and protect workers and the public. Their unbridled greed led to the rise of labor unions which in their early years improved worker safety and security and later became a vested interest that reduced productivity and undermined industry.

My point is this. Big Government began as a response to the Big Moneyed Business of the 1800's.

The battle continues and will continue. But before we want to return to the good old days one must ask what benefits we would like to give up to do so? Liberty for all, black and white, male and female? Clean water and cleaner air? A chance that the middle class working stiff might have a vote and a say against the power of big money?

No thank you. I'll stay right here and work for a better tomorrow. No going back. No going back.