We are all getting old and this blog will try to show the significance.
I was trying to do so serious clean up around my home this last week and I noticed something very significant. I was not only getting old, my whole home and existence was also getting old. It got me to thinking about the impact of getting old and how it might relate to a country like the USA. Here is how I look at it.
When a country or a person of family is young, they tend to focus on the most important aspects of life. Normally when we are younger we do not have the wealth that we have later in life. That means we mostly do the important things. If we needed a car to go to work, we might buy a used car or something that would cost less and be functional. A country like the USA might focus on an army to protect it from invaders. As we get older, we keep adding things. that is where I got my wake up call when I saw all the "junk" that I had accumulated in my basement and garage. It is not different with a government. Some group in the country wants this or that and it is added to the government and onto the tax load. What we all need to do is to think about what we "really" need and not just about what we "want".
Here are some examples of things that have been added to our government. Remember that we have several levels of government and that is for a good reason. Back in the beginning, there was more focus on the state and local governments. Remember the states were like independent countries back in 1789 and they only agreed to join the "Union" after they had a contract called the constitution. I think that the only reason they agreed to join together was for mutual protection and possibly a common currency so they could trade with each other. Back then they did not have a Department of Education or Transportation, or Agriculture. If that was the case back then, why have they changed? We need to ask ourselves that very question.
Given the above pattern of growth of a central and all powerful government, how can we not expect that in the end the whole thing will blow up. Isn't that what has happened historically with all governments? It seems to me that if we want to save the USA that we need to figure out how to stop the growth of our central government and make it smaller if possible. How do we do that? We start by eliminating two or more regulations for every new one we add. Sounds a little like Trump! Why did we ever add a Department of Education when the states were doing a good job. Is our literacy rate or math scores better now that the Federal Government is in charge? I don't think so. How about eliminating the Department of Transportation? What do they do anyway? How about Amtrac?. Why should someone from Iowa need to pay for commuters in New York? I could go on and on with different departments in Washington DC that should be eliminated, but do you know of a political candidate who has advocated eliminating anything? No! ant that is the problem. They don't even know what the biggest problem facing the USA is.
Look around the world at all the countries that are smaller than most of our states and tell me that they can not do a good job with things like education because they are too small? Big is not better in most things and we need to wake up to that fact.
