One case that people who complain about the incompetence of ‘big government’ almost always bring up is the DMV. But what they are really complaining about is the inability of the staff to do the job efficiently. OK! Stop right there!
The problem has nothing whatsoever to do with the size of the government. It has to do with the abilities and intentions of the people who are working in the government or, in this case, in the DMV. It’s not a design problem. It’s a personnel problem.
Republicans say that we must have either social programs that benefit all citizens alike but might increase the size of our government, or total Darwinian Capitalism where only the strongest survive. They say its either-or, that we can’t have a bit of both. But that’s just their opinion. There are many examples of successful compassionate capitalism in smaller countries. We know it can work.
Obviously, it’s not the size of the government that is the problem here. It’s the vision and intent of the individuals running that government that are the problem. Clearly, it’s a personnel problem, not a system design flaw.
Just as with the DMV complaint, we don’t have a dysfunctional senate or DMV because we have a government of a certain size. We have a dysfunctional senate because too many of the people we have put in charge are more interested in their own personal agenda, their own enrichment than they are in the good of the nation as a whole. They’re self-serving scoundrels. That’s why I say it’s a personnel problem. We have simply entrusted the solemn duty of running our country to the wrong people.
Why have we placed that enormous trust in such unworthy hands? I think it’s because we’re all human, and human beings make mistakes. The problem is not in the size of the system, it’s in the people who are making the system work the way it does.
The problem is in all of us. It’s called human nature, and it includes behaviors such as greed, gluttony, avarice, bearing false witness, selfishness, anger, hatred, aggression and lust. And it also includes varying degrees of consciousness, awareness, insight, understanding, empathy, mercy and compassion. Those are all part of our human nature too. Surely we can all see that ‘human nature’ is not the same problem as ‘big government’,
Regardless of the arena in which we act out our lives, we are doing so as human animals. We are the only animals who are not controlled by blind instinct. We have choices. We see options. We have free will. Therefore, it’s the way some members of our government have chosen their options in the exercise of their free will that is the problem, not the size of the government. It’s too many of the wrong people for the job. It’s a personnel problem.