Small Government

[Hemingway]

I see all these candidates calling for small government as they simultaneously sell their soul to become part of the government they so vehemently criticize. It got me thinking: Has there been any instance in our history (or that of another first-world country) where government has made itself smaller?

It seems to me that government is incapable of making itself smaller.

Anyone have an example of when a government went to a period of less employees, less taxes, less spending, less foreign intervention, lower government salaries, less regulation, more freedom, etc?

 

[eldirector]

From about 1861 until about 1865 it was half the size, give or take.

Other than that, no good examples. Both main parties are all about growth.

 

[Ash]

Do parasites get smaller?

 

[Hemingway]

From about 1861 until about 1865 it was half the size, give or take.

Our last great opportunity to defeat big government.

 

[eldirector]

Our last great opportunity to defeat big government.

Not really. We get an opportunity to chip away at it every year. Unfortunately, most of our friends and neighbors WANT big government, so that's what we get.

 

[Paco Bedejo]

Do parasites get smaller?

When their host(s) no longer has(ve) nourishment for them.

For further study, see: USSR & Rome

 

[Palarran]

Government significantly expanded for World War I, and significantly shrank afterwords. To a much lesser extent, the same thing happened after World War II. During that war we were basically living under a social democracy, with government fundamentally in charge of nearly the whole of society and economy.

Some freedoms (mostly, but not necessarily all economic) have increased significantly in the postwar years, and some freedoms (mostly personal) have become more constrained.

 

[CarmelHP]

I see all these candidates calling for small government as they simultaneously sell their soul to become part of the government they so vehemently criticize. It got me thinking: Has there been any instance in our history (or that of another first-world country) where government has made itself smaller?

It seems to me that government is incapable of making itself smaller.

Anyone have an example of when a government went to a period of less employees, less taxes, less spending, less foreign intervention, lower government salaries, less regulation, more freedom, etc?

You shouldn't be surprised. We have a fair number here who proclaim their anti-government stance yet are employed in government sector, or supplying the government sector or at state university jobs or on assistance. We had one prolific poster of that stripe a while back that proclaimed that he hated people taking government benefits, but in the next breath stated that his wife and kids, all of whom lived with him, collected unemployment, food stamps, WIC and were on Medicaid. He was habitually unemployed and spent all day posting. With people unable to connect what benefits them or what they can get with why government has grown so large, the progression is inevitable. People say they want a small government but act as if they want a large overarching government. We have met the enemy and he is us.

And the government wasn't halved in the 1861-65 period, it ballooned in a way not seen before that time. It shrunk some after the CW, but never returned to antebellum levels.

 

[Bunnykid68]

It's just a shell game they play. Here look at the shiny ball.

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

no, and the ways to get rid of parasites are somewhat limited

If you take away the food, the roaches will leave.