Ballooning Bureaucracy

John Campbell | September 30, 2009 11:12 AM

Over the last 9 months, we have seen a drastic increase in government spending, deficits, and debt. You will often see or hear pundits and TV personalities opining about these metrics in relation to the size of government. However, you don’t often hear about another important metric relative to the expansion of government, and that is the growth of the federal bureaucracy.

Since the President passed his massive non-stimulating stimulus bill, it has proven to have been largely ineffective and inefficient. But several government agencies have made hires just to oversee the stimulus spending, and the federal workforce has ballooned by 15.6% since 2006.

In his request for the stimulus bill, the President said:

As soon as I took office, I asked this Congress to send me a recovery plan by Presidents’ Day that would put people back to work and put money in their pockets. Not because I believe in bigger government – I don’t.”

However, actions speak louder than words and President Obama has been the vanguard of bigger government, making now routine incursions into virtually every level of private life from student loans to health care. The point here is simple, as the government grows, liberty declines, and inevitably the taxpayer and the rest of the economy suffer.

As Ronald Reagan once said:

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs – once launched – never disappear, Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we’ll ever see on this Earth.”