I read this and all its backgrounders (this and this), to see if there is anything new.
Nope.
"Small government" remains the cattle call and sometime disinformation campaign for duping those who 'don't have enough' into thinking that government, "Washington", is taking it away, rather than "redistributing" it to them.
There is this Reagan Devolution popularized notion that "small government" is about who we look to to solve our problems.
But, one could easily make the case that the electorate never looked to the government first, outside of, say, true communist aspirations, which were never sizable in America. What I mean is that no one ever said, "Oh, our life is so good, but it would be so much better with a government solution!"
Does anyone thoughtful really believe that there is an organizing principle to be found in "small government"?
What people want is a just society, no? At least as much as can be afforded.
But, in a Republic for which the top 1% is taking a share up to three times more of the national income today than just 30 years ago, it is easy to see why our current financial situation is eyed so closely:
Of course, correctness isn't the idea. The idea is to make it true by persuading enough Americans to believe it.
