THE TYRANNY OF BIG GOVERNMENT

BY SULTAN

This is the situation before us. The concentration of power in Washington D.C. is expressed through the regulatory concentration of wealth. Taxation moves large sums of money, and the ability to continually raise the size of the debt, means that spending by politicians can be virtually infinite, as long as enough of them agree on how they want to spend the money. All this wealth has attracted special interest groups. It has made the capital into a beehive filled with all sorts of people who want part of that money, corporations, unions, non-profits and all sorts of groups, both local and national, all want that money. And they want more than is available. The resulting battles often shape what we call politics.

The American people are angry and dissatisfied with the situation, but they also see few ways to change it. The Republican party is currently the most credible of the two parties when it comes to reducing the size of government, but to do so, it must follow in the footsteps of George Washington and take power, only to give it up, by reducing the size of government and the influence of their positions.

For too long, politicians have defined themselves by what they can do. But it is time for them to look to the Society of the Cincinnati, to former officers who could have ruled the nation by force, but instead chose to see themselves as citizens first. The day that we have a congressional majority that sees itself as citizens, rather than politicians, is the day we will have a congress that is willing to give up power by scaling back the powers of government... for the good of all Americans.