Big topics these days: Reduce the size of government. Shrink government. Government is too big and so on. The problem is that no one wants to define “government” or explain how to measure the size of government. Everyone I know would like to have as small a government as is feasible and that includes the total of federal, state and local governments.
Some sources infer that the size of government is a function of how much money it spends. Others want to measure size by the number of employees. To my knowledge, no one has had the good sense to establish what services the citizens want, figure what the minimum level of that service is, figure what the minimum number of employees is to deliver that level of service is. To me that would settle the question of the proper size of government. Even if the measurement process is expensive, I”ll bet the overall savings would be impressive.
Such a move would also offer an opportunity to examine and maybe even do away with the vast number of reward positions, dubious “commissions”, and plain ol” unneeded services that (particularly in our state) are part of “government.”
To me, it follows that if we have a lean, but adequate and efficient “government,” the next step is to make sure there is an adequate revenue stream to fund it. And that should fix the tax problems.
Guthrie “Guff” Worth
Lakeport
