Control

I have taken two swings at writing this column now, largely driven by my growing irritation at people claiming to be in favor of the small government and, in fact, are interested in nothing of the sort. Make no mistake about it, the era of claiming to be in favor of small government is over, and what both parties are battling over is much simpler: control. How much control should they have over your lives? How much control should they have over the content you consume, the schools you send your children to, the way you invest your money, and what, if any rights, you might get to have in the workplace, your home, or even over your own bodies?

In an era that desperately cries out for a coherent, sensible, consensus-driven vision for smaller and more effective government, we have elites of both parties obsessed with entirely the wrong thing. The gap between the government and the governed has been growing on a national level for decades now and it’s breeding resentments that politicians of both sides are using to monetize and fight our ongoing Culture War. (I cannot describe to you, dear reader, exactly how much I loathe the concept, but that’s a rant of mine waiting to happen.)

But now, that problem has metastasized downwards to the state level. You see it in Wisconsin, where a Supreme Court election flipped the court’s majority, and instantly, Republicans were saying they were going to impeach the new (liberal) justice before she had even done a damn thing. Why? To preserve their highly gerrymandered super majority in the state legislature. See? Control.

You see it in Texas, where the state government passed a law that heavily restricts what cities and counties can regulate. Control.

You see it right here in Iowa, where a massive governmental reorganization bill the Governor asked for sailed through the legislature with few amendments and little meaningful debate. Governor Reynolds has followed that up with a massive culling of State Boards and Commissions all of which are volunteer-run– I can’t quite disagree with the need to ensure efficiencies in government wherever possible, but when it looks like it’s designed to limit (or outright ignore) public input in the process or straight up reduce public participation in government, it ceases to become a good thing and only contributes to the gap between government and governed.

Everything is about control. 

Reducing agencies, services, and commissions may seem like it’s a good thing. It may seem like it’s the right and even fiscally responsible move to be a good steward of the taxpayer's money. But not if it concentrates the power into the hands of fewer and fewer people. Consolidation doesn’t reduce the power. Consolidation doesn’t even mean things are going to be more efficient and fiscally responsible. 

So what does small government look like to me?

I’m not a libertarian. I think people have this tendency to become fanatical about orthodoxies that rubs me the wrong way. I don’t think free markets are the answer to everything- because that assumes our markets are free to begin with. They’re not. I don’t think tax cuts can cure everything from a lack of economic growth to the common cold. It’s pretty clear by this point that they can’t do that either. 

To me, everything needs to be about closing that gap between the government and the governed. I cannot tell you how tired I am of Conservative politicians blathering on about ‘we’re a Republic, not a democracy’ which while technically true, ignores the one, nagging little fact that the Republic in question relies on the consent of the governed. Without that consent, y’all got nothing- which is why reducing that gap should be the cornerstone for a 21st-century vision for smaller government. 

In an age of modern communications technology, there is no reason for us to keep the government in one place- in fact, you could argue that it makes us staggeringly vulnerable to any number of national security threats. One of the smartest things Trump did was attempt to send the Bureau of Land Management to the actual interior of the country so they could be near the land they’re actually managing. The fact that the Biden Administration reversed that only shows how deep the bureaucratic power is and how far the rot has set into the machinery of government. On a smaller scale, it means that anything that can be handled on the county and local level should be handled there. Have a problem with the books in your schools? Talk to your school board. Don’t like their decision: run for school board. The state shouldn’t determine how community-run schools funded by local property taxes stock their library shelves! 

Trust in institutions- especially governmental ones, has reached an all-time low. But people have the means to make their own decisions and more importantly, educate themselves about them in ways that were inconceivable when the United States was founded. The easiest way to start rebuilding that trust is to push everything out and down to the people whose lives are impacted the most. Decentralize everything. Close the gap between government and governed. You’ll probably save some money along the way and you’ll make smaller, more efficient, and perhaps most importantly, effective government great again.