If recent budget deficits are any indication, there's little reason to think the federal government will be getting smaller anytime soon. It's addicted to spending your tax dollars -- and to borrowing when it thinks it doesn't have "enough" tax dollars.
But even if it doesn't plan to shrink, the federal government apparently realizes that many Americans are tired of Washington being so big and so intrusive in our lives. And so, suddenly, the bloated government is using an odd term to describe itself: It says it's our "federal family."
The Palm Beach Post in Florida did a bit of research and found an explosion of the use of that strange phrase during the Obama administration.
In response to Hurricane Irene, for instance, a news release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency stated, "Under the direction of President Obama and Secretary Janet Napolitano, the entire federal family is leaning forward" to help those affected along the East Coast.
Another statement said the administration "is committed to bringing all of the resources of the federal family to bear" for storm cleanup.
There were rare instances when the phrase "federal family" was used under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, but that has increased nearly 12-fold under the Obama administration, the newspaper reported. And perhaps not coincidentally, the phrase often is used as a substitute for the word "government" -- evidently because of the frustrations so many Americans have with government right now.
Congress and the president have legitimate responsibilities. But their meddlesome behavior understandably makes many Americans feel estranged from the "federal family."