—except we do want it.
I was listening to some debate in the state senate a few days ago during which one senator went off on the idea that government is too big and needs to be shrunk. This issue has been debate fodder for decades.
Despite many cutbacks—I recall when governors proudly pointed in their State of the State Addresses how many jobs they had eliminated in the past year.
But do we REALLY want smaller government?
The appropriate answer is a familiar one: Yes, for the other guy. But don’t touch my programs or my benefits.
There’s an organization called NORC at the University of Chicago. Although the outfit says, NORC is not an acronym, it is our name,” the letters stand for The National Opinion Research Center, founded in 1941. But it does businesses as NORC, the pronunciation of which always reminds us of a hilarious 1977 outtake from the Carol Burnett show in which Tim Conway, as he often did, ad-libs a story that broke up the cast, including guest star Dick Van Dyke. Tim Conway elephant story – YouTube.
Well, anyway, The Associated Press and NORC have done a new survey. Sixty percent of Americans think the federal government spends too much money. But 65% want more spending for education (12% want less). Health care? More, says 63% of the respondents; 16% want less. Only 7% of those surveyed want less in Social Security. Sixty-two percent want less. Medicare? 59% more. Ten percent less. Increased border security spending is favored by 53% with 29% favoring less. Military spending is pretty even—35% want more and 29% want less.
It’s interesting to see how these numbers matter in the partisan deadlock over raising the debt ceiling and/or cutting government spending. Heather Cox Richardson, whose blog is called “Letters from an American,” says Republicans are harping on Biden policies and want to slash the budget, ignoring the fact that spending in the Trump administration increased the national debt by one-fourth. The GOPers in Congress want a balanced budget in ten years but don’t want to raise taxes or cut defense, Medicare, Social Security, or veterans benefits. She says that would “require slashing everything else by an impossible 85%, at least (some estimates say even 100% cuts wouldn’t do it.”
She cites David Firestone, a New York Times editorial board member, who has written, “Cutting spending…might sound attractive to many voters until you explain what you’re actually cutting and what effect it would have.” Firestone asserts that Republicans cut taxes and then complain about deficits “but don’t want to discuss how many veterans won’t get care or whose damaged homes won’t get rebuilt or which dangerous products won’t get recalled.”
He opines that difference of opinion and philosophy is why Republicans in the U.S. House haven’t come up with a budget. He says, “its easier to just issue a fiery news release” instead of dealing with the unpopularity of austerity.
What makes things harder for our people in Washington is that we want things. And we expect them to get those things for us. That’s why we’ve never heard a member of Congress come home and tell constituents, “I didn’t introduce the bill that would have built a new post office,” or “I didn’t work for a federal grant for the local hospital,” because the congress person didn’t want to increase the national debt.
And here’s another recent example:
Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who made a lot of political hay in her campaign by saying Arkansawyers should not allow the feds to become involved in state and local issues and who tweeted earlier this year that “As long as I am your governor, the meddling hand of big government creeping down from Washington, DC will be stopped cold at the Mississippi River,” has toured the areas of death and destruction from the tornados this week. Afterwards she said, “The federal government is currently paying 75% of all costs incurred during our recovery process, but that arrangement must go further to help Akansans in need…I am asking the federal government to cover 100% of all our recovery expenses during the first 30 days after the storm.”
She seems to be asking, “Where is big government when we want it?”
The other person is always the greedy one who wants the government to do everything for him or her until WE are that other person.
And that’s why we don’t trust politicians. They give us what we want. Then they argue about who is responsible for the debt.
At the basic level, folks, it’s not them. It’s us. We’re responsible for this situation. They can’t argue with us so they argue with each other.
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