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“…citizens’ emotional experiences in response to candidates are a powerful and significant predictor of how they evaluate candidates…” (Isbell, 2012)
Are you concerned about how people make their voting decisions, especially the young? In the face of biased media and powerful propaganda techniques, emotion can play a greater role in decision making today.
With the current size of our government ($6 trillion budget) and its attempt to influence nearly all parts of our lives, can we take a step back and look at one issue and a less emotional approach to choosing our politicians? Let’s ask, “Does my candidate support limited government or expansive government?”
Should the government (Federal, State, or City) be limited or extensive? The political left generally wants substantial government control. The political right general lobbies for limited government. It’s one of the major conflicts in the public square that causes the wide divide in opinions, truth and often relationships.
To answer the question, we will use two components: 1) The wisdom of the bible and 2) the scientific method.
“For rulers are not a cause of fear for [a]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;” – Romans 13:3
The Bible
Although the bible does not provide an exact correct size of government, it does outline some guiding principles. First, all governments must be considered established and accountable to God. Therefore, government is a divine institution formed to protect its citizens by maintaining order and establishing justice.
Doesn’t this sound consistent with our Declaration of Independence?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
Further proof of this role is seen in Romans 13:4
“…for it is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a servant of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.” – Romans 13:4
It continues with Peter 2:1.
“…or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.” – Peter 2:1
The bible seems to suggest government should have a limited, functional role. It’s not instituted to control every aspect of life. It’s established to assure justice (protection of rights) and security. Is it fair to say our federal government has expanded significantly beyond this limited role? Consider the size of the federal debt (currently at $38 trillion). Can we agree this level of debt is unhealthy? At this level, individual citizens each owe $114,000. Is it fair to say if our government had focused on the narrow role delineated in the bible, our debt would be minimal, if it exists at all, and we would have greater financial health, and financial health is a measure of effectiveness?
Massive federal government fraud has recently been uncovered in Minneapolis, MN and California. Fraud is theft and the bible is clear about theft being a sin (“Thou shall not steal”). Is it fair to say if our government had focused on the narrow role delineated in the bible, fraud would be significantly smaller, if it exists at all?
“Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God” - Anonymous
Scientific Method
The scientific method includes four steps: 1) Develop a hypothesis (e.g. bigger government will create better results for citizens); 2) Collect data to test the hypothesis; 3) Analyze the data to confirm or contradict the hypothesis; 4) Decide to continue to accept the hypothesis if the data confirms it or change the hypothesis if the data contradicts it. Let’s apply the method.
Our government is not limited. It’s a behemoth with an annual estimated amount of $6 trillion. Our hypothesis (item #1 in the method) for discussing the scientific method will be, “the current size of the federal government is effectively fulfilling its role as an institution (providing protection and justice for citizens).
The data (item #2 in the method) show:
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “we spend twice as much on welfare as it would take to move every family in America above the poverty line. In other words, if we just gave these families enough cash to increase their income, no one would be in poverty.”
The CBO also reports an explosion in Medicaid Fraud and waste. Because of policy, the federal government matches $1 of state spending with $9 of Federal spending. This is causing healthcare costs to more than double over the past 5 years.
In a McLaughlin poll, 38% of the federal spending is waste.
More important than money, our children are failing. Illiteracy increased from 16% to 25% in 2023.
Can we agree New York State is a good example of bigger government and Florida is a good example of limited? Because New York has similar sized populations one might expect the budgets to be the same size, but New York’s budget is twice the size of Florida’s.
Finally, Connecticut has been managed by “big government” democrats for 28 consecutive years. Some of the results are:
Step #3 in the scientific method is to analyze the data and decide what was learned. In reviewing this data can we agree that a bigger government is less effective?
If so, step #4 tells us we need a new hypothesis. Perhaps limited government is the best strategy.
Summary
Although this evaluation is limited, can we conclude, for now, fighting for limited government is justified by biblical teachings and the scientific method? It feels daunting to be facing this current behemoth. So, how do we start?
We have all seen how Presidential Executive Orders create limited results when limiting government power. We need a robust approach to limiting our government behemoth.
Amending the Constitution offers a long-term strategy for some of these long-term strategic goals of national security and economic success. The Convention of States initiative is diligently working to call the Article V Convention to accomplish the following three goals:
Embracing a long-term strategic mindset is useful for us personally and for our entire country. Vote accordingly.
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