Why a smaller government is a better government

[dazzleman]

That's a pretty well-written essay, Andrew.

I generally agree that all other things being equal, a smaller government is a better government.  Still, it's important not to take a good thing too far, and start believing too much of your own propaganda.

The fact is that truly small government is gone, and will not return.  Society is too complex to have the type of government we had back in the 1800s.  The American people would never permit it, and neither party would advocate it.

There are many dangers to big government.  I believe that government is fundamentally incompetent and is very destructive when not tightly controlled.  As I think Gerald Ford once said, the government that is powerful enough to give us everything we want is powerful enough to take away everything we have.  Still, there are certain things that must be done that aren't economically rewarding, and people rely on government to do these things, principally.

While you are on the right track in my opinion, you need to be careful about having a doctrinaire belief in small government because it could produce unexpected effects that you don't want, like rampant crime possibly. 

Still, my big problem with some advocates of big government is that they produce all the negative effects of big government, with none of the positives.  Think of the political philosophy that produces high taxes and spends the money on destructive and wasteful social programs that have exacerbated the problems they were meant to address, while neglecting the primary government functions of maintaining domestic tranquility and a strong national defense.

One thing I would say to you -- in order to ensure that people have all the freedom they deserve, it is sometimes necessary to restrain the freedom of certain people in certain areas.  I don't think you general philosophy necessarily recognizes or addresses that.  You can't be all things to all people.

[dazzleman]

Philip, you have a point about dismantling the police.  It is more often advocates of big government (i.e., liberals) who seek to effectively dismantle the police.

Complexity is a reason for certain things, and I don't think we can have the same type of government today that we had when we were an isolated, agrarian nation.  Whether the government we actually have is the right kind is a different question.

[dazzleman]

What garbage.  The reason 'Why a 'smaller' government is a better government' is that it benefits the owning class.

But just big enough for a strong military and a religious element to pry into people's bedrooms.  Ahh, the pinnacles of modern Feudalism. 

I don't favor the latter, either.

A government should only be large enough to protect its citizens from internal and external threats (ie crime, terrorism, enemy nations), and to discourage other countries from being threats.

In other words to preserve the class structure and everyone's place in it.

That's something you should strongly favor, opebo, if you are who you say you are.

[dazzleman]

The Gerry Ford quote dazzleman provided was actually from Goldwater, iirc.

You could be right.  I remember reading it in something that Gerald Ford wrote.  Regardless, it is 100% true.