Government quality is independent of government size. The responsibility for government quality rests principally on the voting population, which is obviously made up of individuals like you and me. What a government can achieve increases as it's size goes up, and it's up to the population to engage properly and thoughtfully to ensure the goals set are in line with what the population wants, and also that those goals are met to a reasonable degree. Now of course this fails, principally because far too many people in the population are not thoughtful enough and/or aren't able to reason effectively. So, an example of a government that might be too big could be a government running a program subsidising pedicures. If we ignore that this isn't the only explanation, we can probably agree that this exaggerated example likely does represent a government that's too big. Also setting aside the likely exorbitant size of the US military, I do not think your example of the Navy changing all light bulbs (or your other example) directly supports a conclusion that the government is too big. A waste of taxes, absolutely, but the waste of tax dollars here is not directly related to government size because it is not related to more government employment. If your example relates to government size at all it might indicate that more oversight is required. Hence, larger government, but I don't think that's a necessary conclusion, just a reasonable one.
The problems we face in the running of our societies are only exacerbated by inaction in the face of these kinds of corruption. It's essentially implicit in belonging to these institutions that you have go along with these kinds of decisions- think of how many people would have had to go along with each of the examples you give for government waste. I bet your friend would not have found it a welcoming environment to emphatically point out the waste of your populations money in this Navy example. The problems are so, so deep.
I may have prioritised clarity over civility here, but I'd much rather be understood than polite.
Oct. 17, 2018, 10:12 p.m. - natbrown
Government quality is independent of government size. The responsibility for government quality rests principally on the voting population, which is obviously made up of individuals like you and me. What a government can achieve increases as it's size goes up, and it's up to the population to engage properly and thoughtfully to ensure the goals set are in line with what the population wants, and also that those goals are met to a reasonable degree. Now of course this fails, principally because far too many people in the population are not thoughtful enough and/or aren't able to reason effectively. So, an example of a government that might be too big could be a government running a program subsidising pedicures. If we ignore that this isn't the only explanation, we can probably agree that this exaggerated example likely does represent a government that's too big. Also setting aside the likely exorbitant size of the US military, I do not think your example of the Navy changing all light bulbs (or your other example) directly supports a conclusion that the government is too big. A waste of taxes, absolutely, but the waste of tax dollars here is not directly related to government size because it is not related to more government employment. If your example relates to government size at all it might indicate that more oversight is required. Hence, larger government, but I don't think that's a necessary conclusion, just a reasonable one. The problems we face in the running of our societies are only exacerbated by inaction in the face of these kinds of corruption. It's essentially implicit in belonging to these institutions that you have go along with these kinds of decisions- think of how many people would have had to go along with each of the examples you give for government waste. I bet your friend would not have found it a welcoming environment to emphatically point out the waste of your populations money in this Navy example. The problems are so, so deep. I may have prioritised clarity over civility here, but I'd much rather be understood than polite.