Downsizing_________________________________________________________Honey, I Shrunk the Government!
Anybody got one of those shrinking machines?
President Bill Clinton announced, "The era of big government is over." Must have been one of those situations where he parsed the meaning of is. Last time we checked, although Clinton did a few things to reverse the trend of government evolution, his Republican successor made up for lost growth. Under George W. Bush the size of government increased more than under Lyndon Johnson. And now that we have what Big Government opportunists are calling the "failure" of "free markets" at the core of the current economic crisis, those who believe that small government is and always has been the answer have our work cut out for us.
We continue with an excerpt from our "Libertarian Political Program."
Downsize:
- Shrink
the government by starvation. End all taxing authority. If we stop the
government's fiscal engorgement, it will stop finding ways to consume
more of our capital and regulate more of our lives and business and
will quickly morph into survival mode, saving its resources for those
few functions (if any) that a consensus of citizens defers to it.
- Eliminate all but essential departments, agencies, programs and services.
- Limit
foreign policy to high level diplomacy on an as needed basis with a
sizable reduction in embassies and consulates, making the vast majority
of such operations virtual, and define national defense in the
strictest sense.
- Reduce the
Legislature to part-time volunteer status, eliminating the need to for
legislators to maintain residences, offices, and staffs in Washington.
Why would we want to do this?If the statement, "I'm the government and I'm here to help," calms you or gives you goosebumps, then you're better off with the Republicrats. Thanks for stopping by. If this statement gives you a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, read on. You've just found your political home.
Why shrink the government? You'll read this in numerous places on this website. Government screws up anything it touches. By its very nature, government fosters corruption, inefficiency, and incompetence. Not just governments. Old pre-deregulation utility companies used to function the same way. The phone company, the gas and electric company, perhaps your cable company.
The root of systemic incompetence, inefficiency and corruption is the lack of competition. Where there are no market forces present to keep costs down, quality up an organization, agency, institution or business becomes fat, unwieldy, bureaucratic.
Beyond that, however, we are beginning to learn that bigger is usually not better. Smaller organisms are more agile. Whether people, companies, governments, or anything else, those who are able to move quickly, adapt easily, keep weight off, stay current, reach forward are the ones who will survive the present and thrive in the future.
One example: we are seeing this in schools. Gone are the days of behemoth high schools in large cities and suburbs. Instead, many of these huge old schools are subdividing into numerous schools within a school, or actually autonomous schools sharing a single building. It has been discovered that when organizations are smaller, they are more successful, efficient. When everyone knows everyone, there is more mutual accountability. Students learn better, get better grades, feel more of a sense of belonging, and therefore are more likely to succeed in smaller schools.
Smaller government is better government. De-centeralized power brings re-energized liberty.
Delving Deeper: For a brief, basic summary of why this position or policy benefits you,
take this link.