Cracker Commentary
Ruminations of a rare and endangered critter, the Florida Native
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It is not by the consolidation, or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected.
- Thomas Jefferson
 Sunday, November 24, 2002Downsizing Washington In his Fox News commentary last Thursday, Radley Balko says Republicans are losing libertarian support, and the reason is simple: My gripe with Bush and Republicans is not that they haven't moved quickly enough to reduce the size and scope of government, or even that they haven't moved at all. My gripe is that they've moved backward. Sorry, Radley. That's the best you can expect. People in Washington are there for just one reason, they want to be at the top of the power pyramid, and it doesn't matter if they are Democrat, Republican or even Libertarian. Of course, many of them truly want to be there to use that power to solve great problems, or at least they truly believe that. None can be counted upon to relinquish the ability to do great things for their nation, their constituents, their ideals, the children, sometimes even (gasp!) themselves. Whether motivated by the best of intentions or the basest, they become blind to the notion that this very power to do good or ill has become the greatest problem of all. Much of the power Washington exercises was not taken by any force, but given up voluntarily by individuals, businesses, municipalities and states in return for perceived benefits. When the government is asked to do something, the power to control that activity goes with it and can then be used to other ends. Congress can't regulate speed limits by statute, but what state would dare give up highway funds that have been extracted from its own citizens by the Federal Government just to let people drive ten miles per hour faster? Or what university would forgo federally funded student aid to be free of Title IX requirements that could not otherwise be enforced. Right now a group of twenty-one states is asking for federal coordination of an interstate sales tax program, mainly to provide a way to tax Internet sales. If this comes about, guess who's in control. If a city wants to finance a transportation system, it can usually find a way to get federal funding so it doesn't have to raise taxes. Of course, every other city is also getting funding for schools or parks or streets and everybody's taxes are rising to cover the cost plus administrative costs of funnelling the money to Washington and back. To help reverse the growth of the Federal Government, it is more important for libertarians to be active at the state and local levels to educate the public, resist government bribes (pork and other 'aid') and fight efforts to weaken constitutional limits on Federal powers. Washington is not going to downsize itself.
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