The term "big government" has been loosely bandied about for several decades. Certainly it has been used to point out the over-spending by elected officials and their entities, something that now not only disturbs many of those in the higher tax bracket but also many people hurting in today's staggering economy.
During this presidential election year, as in others in the recent past, Republicans especially will use these words in hopes of getting votes. Some might call it scare tactics designed to trick the white poor and middle-class to actually vote against their own interests through fear.
How many dollars spent and governmental programs are too many, and where should one draw the line? Is it too expensive to provide every American who needs assistance with basic necessities like food, shelter, education and health care? Is this what makes government too big, and is this where we are going wrong?
Although many people would be hard-pressed to really define how big is too big for government, they will hear this phrase and immediately be filled with rage, especially toward Democrats and those who receive some kind of governmental assistance. But the question that should naturally occur to any thoughtful person is: What does the phrase "big government" really mean?
Try posing that question to your average anti-big-government tea party enthusiast. An awkward moment may follow that question because many tea party members would probably be showing strain on their faces in an effort to do something quite different from engaging in their usual blind rage: namely, critical thinking.
It just seems to me, to borrow a phrase from George Carlin, that the American people should not be worried about big government but rather corrupt government. I don't know about you, but government used against the interests of the general population for the gain of a few wealthy interests is indeed corrupt. One needs to look no further than tax loopholes that enable a huge profit machine like General Electric Co. to pay no taxes and the military industrial complex.
The American people should really start thinking critically about how they have been manipulated to vote against their own interests through the brainwashing box called the television that hasn't reported real news since the retirement of Edward R. Murrow. Yes, that's an exaggeration, but it is nonetheless closer to the truth than how politicians and greedy corporate interests have deceptively used the phrase big government to procure what they want from the corrupt system.
Yes, corrupt government is more like it. Corrupt government means a government used by interests outside the interests of the American people for the purposes of corporate greed. Government should be as big as it needs to be. No less and no more.
Greg Allard is a journalism senior at UF.
