Although I do not always agree with Scott Rasmussen’s political proposals, the pollster’s understanding of American trends and attitudes is unparalleled. In his latest book, The People’s Money, Rasmussen reviews depressing facts about increasing government spending.
Since the 1950s, Rasmussen reports:
Federal spending alone has increased faster than population growth and inflation thirty-five times in the last forty years. When you add in state and local governments, the numbers are even more depressing. Since 1965, total government spending in America has grown faster than population growth plus inflation in every year but one. . . .
[I]f, since 1954, government spending had grown just enough to keep up with the population and inflation . . . government spending would have totaled approximately $1.2 trillion in 2010. . . . [Yet] governments in America spent four times that amount—$5.2 trillion.
The proper goal of government is not to increase spending in proportion to population and inflation, but rather to protect individual rights. By that standard, government spending should be radically cut. Yet Rasmussen’s report highlights just how far out of control government has grown.
We who love liberty must redouble our efforts to limit government to its proper function.
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Related:
- Individualism vs. Collectivism: Our Future, Our Choice
- The American Right, the Purpose of Government, and the Future of Liberty
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