Towards a Leaner, Meaner Government

November 7, 2001 -- As a result of the war on terrorism, many people feel an urge to "do something." It is a noble urge, but, like all urges, requires intelligent direction. Unfortunately, that is just the kind of direction we are not getting. What is happening instead is that politicians are taking advantage of people's honorable desire to do something in order to advocate pet projects.

Thus, on November 6, 2001, Senators John McCain and Evan Bayh took to the Op-Ed page of the New York Times to advocate expanded programs of national service, "from promoting literacy to caring for the elderly" ("A New Start for National Service"). To anyone who remembers Senator McCain's presidential bid, this will be all-too-familiar, but it is exactly the reverse of the path that America should be following.

Now is the time when our statesmen should be telling the country: "Washington cannot afford to focus on more than its central business, and that is prosecuting the war against terrorism. What we need is leaner, meaner government. Therefore, the best contribution that you, our country's civilians, can make at this time is to take back from government the tasks extraneous to providing national security. The best contribution you can make is to create a civil society of for-profit and non-profit organizations that will deal with problems outside of national security. If you will expend your time and effort on such undertakings and institutions, we will cut taxes so that you can support them."

The benefits of such a program would be manifold. First, and most importantly, it would focus Washington's efforts, and it would focus them on just those tasks for which government is well suited: the provision of security and justice. Secondly, in contrast to the McCain-Bayh plan, it would establish between the state and the isolated individual a layer of wholly private institutions—educational, medical, cultural, recreational, charitable, etc.—so that people could live without requiring government programs, assistance, or caretakers. Lastly, by offering innumerable vehicles through which one could participate in strengthening the fabric of society, this program would respond to the American people's desire to "do something" in the hour of their country's need.

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