Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Sunday, May 09, 2004

Good Government Versus Small Government

George W. Bush and others who excoriate "Big Government" almost never pause to say just what government is good for. Making government smaller is not an end in itself, nor is it a panacea program for making government better -- too often it just amounts to a reckless drive to dismantle and loot the institutions of civil society.

Any politician who in answer to the question of what is good government answers that it is "less" or "smaller" government is a person who is absolutely not to be trusted with governance. They claim to be suspicious of the very power they seek, and offer no criteria on the basis of which to assess the things they actually mean to do with that power once they have attained it.

You can take that Law to the bank. It is no wonder that "small government" types inevitably screw things up so hideously. It is no wonder that government tends not only to function badly but to actually grow more massive whenever "smaller government" types are in office.