Government inefficiency is so prevalent that it is nearly impossible to get hard numbers about the nation’s economy. Suffice it to say that the federal government’s share of the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is somewhere between 25% and 28%. In other words, for every productive minute, hour, product or service that is generated in our country, government consumes, at a minimum, one fourth of the total. From Fortune 50 companies to corner lemonade stands the productivity of America’s people is being sucked away by an overbearing monstrosity that is growing larger every day. Not included in that obscene number is the amount of productivity and money we must place as individuals and corporations toward complying with Government’s myriad laws, rules and regulations.
Ross Perot became somewhat famous for describing that “giant sucking sound” of American jobs going to Mexico. Today that giant sucking sound is Big Brother and Nanny State draining the efforts, creativity and resources of our most productive citizens. As our energies and talents swirl down the sinkhole of government interference and barriers, our spirits are beaten, and our dreams are trashed by red tape and bureaucratic resistance. Some might argue that government’s consumption of such a large portion of our work and our products is justified because the state (all government) provides so many benefits that our people require. The difficulty with that particular line of thinking is that the state defines what we need. Just because some legislator or government agency believes that it is a jolly idea if all citizens drove turbo-powered Huffy bicycles, it doesn’t necessarily follow that we want them.
Let’s shift for a moment from the macro view of government’s slurping our resources to a micro consideration. You rise in the morning, and before you have worked a full day or built anything of value, you begin at 25% in the hole. Put another way, you work eight hours for six…or twelve hours or the value of nine. If you produce something for the marketplace, everything will have to be priced twenty-five per cent higher in order for government to collect its cut. A somewhat hidden factor is that as government gobbles up more and more of our productivity, we must work longer and harder just to stay even. Some of our fellow citizens have decided not to participate in the race against government consumption. No, they haven’t gone Galt, but many of them have gone to the government because they claim they cannot continue to keep up with the economic pace required for people to prosper. Thus, those of us who continue to produce now have the added burden of supporting the dropouts. That sucks. If you’ve ever seen a combine harvesting grain, it provides an illustration of the government’s voracious appetite for our productivity….and there are the producers scurrying ahead of the machine, gleaning what little they can before the harvester swallows them.
In modern times the United States has had its most productive and prosperous times when the government’s share of the GDP was limited to 18% to 20%. To achieve those numbers today, government consumption will have to be reduced by 20% to 25% of its present rate of resource absorption. Try to imagine how productive, how energized we would be if government were reduced to 15% of GDP. Even better…how would our economy react to a government that confiscated a mere 10% of all the production, creativity, talent and human energy in the nation? Our economy would take off like a rocket from Cape Canaveral. Government does not produce. It consumes. Government sucks up the labor and products of the producers. Government that over burdens it’s people is immoral. Government that forces productive citizens to support chose who choose not to compete is immoral. Government that attempts to regulate and dominate the lives of its citizens by limiting their individual liberty is immoral. Government that makes outrageous claims on the time, labor and productivity of its citizens is immoral. Government that undermines the property rights of its citizens through lawmaking and rule making is immoral. Any government that seeks to limit the personal freedom, the opportunities, and creative self-expression of its people has surrendered its moral authority. A moral government serves the people. An immoral one controls them.
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