IS THE US GOVERNMENT TOO BIG?

•  Between financial rescue missions and the economic stimulus program, government spending accounts for a bigger share of the nation’s economy—26%—than at any time since World War II.
• The government is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages.
• If you buy a car from GM, you are buying from a company that is 60% owned by the government.
• If you take out a car loan or run up your credit card, the chances are good that the government is financing both your debt and that of your bank.
• If you buy life insurance from the American International Group, you will be buying from a company that is 80% government owned.
• Senior officials at the Treasury Department hold veto power over executive pay packages for the biggest recipients of government loans, like Citigroup and Bank of America.
• President Obama wants to give the Federal Reserve new powers to supervise giant financial institutions whose failure could threaten the entire financial system.

The growth, power and influence of government over the economy of the US are nothing short of staggering.  Without question, the financial meltdown of last fall and winter has produced this increased and phenomenal role for government; but at what cost?  Several thoughts.

• First of all, this development represents a profound philosophical shift for America.  It is an intentional reversal of the Reagan legacy.  Reagan used to joke “That the nine most terrifying words in the English language were ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”  But consider the way the American people are responding to this undoing of the Reagan legacy.  Are Americans manifesting a trust in their own government?  Consider:  The approval rating of Congress is at 30%!  Daniel Henninger of the Wall Street Journal correctly concludes that “This is a remarkable vote of no confidence in the representative branch of the national government.”  Also consider:  In California and New York, the two most economically important of the 50 states, their respective legislatures are simply incompetent in managing the peoples’ money.  Also consider:  The three large entitlement programs of the US government—Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security—are in serious condition.  Medicaid is wreaking unprecedented havoc on state budgets.  Medicare will be broke in 8 years and Social Security is not far behind.  Further, the current president and Congress are about to approve some form of federal government oversight of the entire health care colossus of the US.  If one wants to see where the US government and its increasingly huge control over so many dimensions of our lives is heading, look to California.  Columnist George Will calls California the “recipe for decline.”  In this state we see high taxes, heavy regulation, subservience to public employee unions and a rabid environmentalism.  It is nearly impossible to be optimistic about this state of affairs.

• Second, when one is discussing the size of government, one must also think about its purpose.  From Genesis 2:18-25, Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, and Romans 13:1-7, for example, we see that the state is one of the three major institutions that God created.  He created the family to procreate and raise children; He created the church to equip and train saints to fulfill the Great Commission; and He created the state to promote justice and thwart evil.  I believe it is time to once again revisit God’s plan and purpose for each institution.  It is paramount in this era of big government to think biblically about the state.  The modern welfare state has created an entitlement mentality among its citizens that has resulted in a paternalistic government that sees its role as providing for its citizens, in one way or another, from cradle to grave.  But what does this do?  Does the paternalistic state produce virtuous citizens who care for one another?  The political scientist, James Q. Wilson, has written:  “At root, in almost every area of public concern, we are seeking to induce persons to act virtuously, whether as schoolchildren, applicants to public assistance, would-be lawbreakers, or voters and public officials.”  But we are not doing that.  Today, James C. Capretta argues, America’s leaders are in the same position that GM’s executives were in a decade or two ago.  The nation has made a series of lavishly unaffordable promises.  The legacy costs are piling up.  By the end of 2019, the nation’s debt will soar to 82% of GDP—and that is without new programs (e.g., health care) and before the full fiscal impact of boomer retirement sets in.  So, in this paternalistic state we have created, how do we control spending?  Consider California again.  Once the paternalistic state was created and the entitlement mentality was firmly entrenched, California turned to its citizens.  The California Constitution gives voters relatively direct control over fiscal decisions.  But as Troy Enik has argued in a most helpful essay, “The result is that Californians have voted to tax themselves like libertarians and subsidize themselves like socialists.”  California is therefore in fiscal meltdown.  Because of union power, the state cannot fire teachers, even when one is found with pornography, pot or cocaine in school.  The paternalistic state (e.g., California in its maturity) has sown the seeds of its own destruction.  Whether we are talking about Washington, D.C., California or Wall Street, we do not see virtue; we see self-indulgence, irresponsibility and imprudence.  The problem with America is not political, financial or social; it is spiritual.  America is not a collection of economic units or technological cogs in a machine.  America is made up of people created in God’s image, who must be held accountable for their actions and who must kill the entitlement mentality currently cursing this nation.  The hope for renewal will not come from Washington, or state capitals.  The hope will come from a spiritual awakening in this nation.  That should be the focus of the church, not the state.

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