"That government is best which governs least." -- Anonymous
Surprised that the lack of attribution for this quotation? If you are like me, you probably thought this remark was made by Thomas Jefferson. As it turns out, there is no evidence that Jefferson ever said any such thing. The scholars at Monticello, Jefferson's home and center of much Jeffersonian scholarship, list this remark as one of Jefferson's "spurious quotations." Henry David Thoreau is known to have said this in Civil Disobedience in 1849 and is thus often thought to be the originator, although the Monticello website also suggests that an editor of the United States Magazine and Democratic Review may have written these words as early as 1837. So the writer of these often-quoted words is actually unknown.
So much nonsense is associated with the myth of big government that it only seems fitting that its crowning quotation is usually attributed to the wrong guy. The idea that a big government is in itself a bad thing is the dumbest concept that has ever plagued American politics. (Denying global warming during a record breaking summer runs a close second.)
Let's look at the simple facts. The 2010 U.S. census puts the current population in this country at about 311 million. That is bigger than it has ever been. Doesn't it make the commonest of common sense that if our population is larger than it has ever been, our government should also be larger than it has ever been?
Here is a story I made up to illustrate my point. I call it the Big Government Myth.
There was a town out in the country that was built on a riverside. The people of the town decided they wanted to build a bridge across the river to promote trade. So they put a bridge contract up for bids, and three contractors submitted proposals at the next town meeting.
The first contractor stepped up to the microphone at the meeting and said: "I am a conservative contractor and I believe in small government. So I designed a bridge that is as small and low cost as possible. The bridge is made of cardboard and will be taped and glued together. It will be a one lane bridge. Of course a stiff wind might blow it away, to I will secure it with twine to the riverbank. It will be so inexpensive to build than you won't have to raise taxes, and you will have the bridge you want. It will cost you $100."
A second contractor stepped forward. "I am a liberal and I believe in big government. I think you need the biggest, best bridge imaginable. I am proposing a stainless steel bridge plated in chrome. It will have 10 lanes going each way. There will be call boxes every 50 feet all the way across, and a dedicated police station on each end. We will have a helicopter pad in the middle to rescue injured motorists. Next to the helicopter pad I will build a hospital and a hotel. This bridge will cost $500 billion, but you will get the best bridge possible."
The third contractor stepped forward. "I did a study to determine how many cars might cross the bridge. I also calculated the cost of materials and tried to create a design that best balances cost and benefit. My bridge will be two lanes each way, and will be made of concrete with steel reinforcement. It won't be indestructible but it should last 100 years. It will cost $50 million."
Of course the town chose the third plan. Not because it was the most or least expensive, and not because it was in the middle. They chose it because it fit their need. This is the way government should work. Arguing about the size of government is a useless exercise. It doesn't matter whether government is big or small, what matters is that the size of government fits the need.
Any discussion about the size of government is beside the point if it does not take into account what is needed. Even saying we need to cut the fat is a useless discussion. Human bodies make fat for a reason, and some fat is healthy. If fat served no biological purpose, humans wouldn't have it.