While most of the public and media attention the past two years has been focused on high prices and inflation, these issues take second place over the public’s top concern, which is big government, according to a new Gallup poll. Concern over the uncontrolled Southern border is in third position.
Gallup reports “the government ranks as the top problem for both Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (24%) and Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents (18%).” That last figure may come as a surprise to some as Democrats are often regarded, at least by Republicans, as the party of government.
We have heard much of this before. People claim to hate big government, its intrusiveness, the entire tax system, over-regulation of businesses and further loss of confidence in it by many following the displays of ineptitude during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are more reasons to dislike big government, but these are some of the most prominent ones.
Some Democrats often reply to statements about people who claim to dislike big government by saying, “You may say you hate it, but when you need it, it’s there.” It’s a clever rejoinder, but it misses the point. Government is no longer limited, as the Founders intended. It is everywhere, including and increasingly in decisions we used to make for ourselves. If you are old enough to remember drinking out of garden hoses and riding bikes without helmets, you know what I mean.
Cutting even the rate of spending increases, much less reducing actual spending, gets you slammed as uncaring about children and the poor. That has been a fraud perpetrated by some politicians to help preserve their careers in government, something else the Founders never intended.