Size matters

For those of you who are frequent readers of this column, you are aware (painfully, at times) that I love clichés. As I move forward into my seventh decade of life, I have discerned that most clichés contain nuggets of truth. I could proclaim the virtues of “old wives’ tales,” but that would be unforgivably politically incorrect. In contradiction to “Cosmopolitan Magazine,” I submit that smaller is better. My greatest argument for that proposition is that “bigness” diffuses accountability thus leading to unproductive inefficiencies.


Let’s examine some examples of how bigness has affected you. When you’ve had a service problem with an appliance that was purchased online or from a huge corporation, how much time did you consume while pushing “1”, then “3”, followed by a “7”, then back to “1”, resulting in the dial tone as you were inadvertently (?) disconnected. After repeating the process, you finally get to speak with a live person whose accent makes him/her nearly impossible to understand. Ever happen to you? When you conduct business with a local “Mom and Pop” store, the customer service issues are a little different, aren’t they? I am not trying to discourage you from using larger enterprises for your commercial activity. There is generally an economic advantage in large scale production or distribution. Larger organizations have their weak spots, however, but in the commercial world we have the option of choosing a smaller, more customer-friendly business. In the realm of government our choices are limited.

No matter the venue…local, state or federal…we have no true choice of which government we have. We do have, for now, the opportunity to relocate to another locality or state if we are unhappy with government in place. On the federal level, however, we have no choice – short of renouncing our citizenship and moving somewhere else. As our individual liberty continues to be consumed by an increasingly intrusive federal presence, our options for forcing the federal government to be more responsive to us become severely limited. There must be a tipping point beyond which the people cannot reclaim the power. Clearly, if the electoral patterns from the past continue and voters blindly support the same two parties, can we expect the inexorable slide into tyranny to subside?

Now is the time for patriots to say “Halt!” Now is the time for citizens to support candidates who are truly committed to smaller government. Now is the time to cease voting for duopoly politicians who give lip service to restraining the reach of government. The Libertarian Party stands on “smaller government, lower taxes, and more freedom.” If you are alarmed about the unwieldy growth of government…if you resent having the Nanny state control much of your daily living…if you are fed up with exorbitant taxes that are siphoned from your pockets and frivolously spent…if you would rather be left alone to chose your own priorities and preferences, then YOU are a Libertarian.

Your response is welcome. Comment or email: cnpearl@woh.rr.com