1). History will show that "Term Limits" was the catalyst that triggered the 'worst recession since the Great Depression', and began the slide into the deepest deficit pit in U.S. history.
Bill Clinton had a $300 billion surplus when he was forced out of office by term limits. There is little question he would have beat baby bush, and got re-elected. The Iraq War would never have happened -avoiding its debt and the recession it triggered.
2). "Small Government" may sound sweet in national politics, though the conservative motive behind it is sinister. The bitter truth is its a really bad idea internationally in the age of Big Governments. Where Big Gov is the Alpha Multi-National Corp, securing turf resources and market access for the pack.
China, Russia, the EU, and now India, Brazil and some Mega-regions are playing Big Government hardball... ironically inspired by the success of old U.S. 'Big Government' programs that made US A superpower.
Conservatives repeat these sweet lies, Not because its good for America, but because term limits keeps out populist successful Presidents like Clinton. And, a smaller federal government gives them more power at the state level to impede, gut, unfund, or simply ignore any law or policy they don't like and could not overturn.
Simply put, if you can't stop the government from empowering ('other') people, the planet & species with rights, reduce the power of government to enforce those rights.
Keep in mind, conservatives fought hard, on the battlefield and in the courts, to limit rights. They lost on slavery, voting & civil rights for blacks and women, integration, the environment and endangered species. They just lost on healthcare rights, and are currently losing on reproductive rights, gay rights and the human rights of illegal immigrants.
While the 'small gov' pitch is sold on 'lower taxes' and the 'your money' private vs public sector spin. Its a shell game, that the country can't win.
Consider the Bush 'small gov' pitch, and plan. He crippled, defunded or killed critical gov oversight functions, regulations and programs so he could "give you back your money" via the Bush tax cuts. Then quietly bond-borrowed a trillion from the Big Government Chinese to plug the hole.
Originally Posted by RaiderGirl:
I'm for smaller Government, less spending and fiscal responsibility, I said Government does not produce wealth, they only CONSUME it, from people like me in the private sector.
As far as the government not 'producing wealth', consider that this is often said on the internet... which of course was created by Big Government -and has produced more wealth in a shorter period of time than anything in history.
The fact that the wealth of the web is in the global public domain, and not "private sector" owned, is why anybody can buy a cheap domain and go for it. This speaks to the collective power and priceless value of big gov's role as a public domain enterprise enabler.
Now, I'm not a fan of more government than needed, but having less government than needed is a far more serious problem, that now has the U.S. in decline, and may end-up a failed state like other places where the gov is too small to effectively serve its population.
Big gov grows the public commons, which in turn enables private industry, which grows the tax base, allowing the commons to produce a healthier, better educated, growing population... to serve and expand the industry of a society.
This is the ecosystem of an advancing civilization... that evolved mankind from campfire tribe to village, to town, city, state, region and country.
Conservatives have us stuck at the country level, and actually want to regress back to State. Yet we still need to create an elected form of planetary governance, and expand that into space colonization.
Its not about "big government" or "small government"... its about effective governance to meet the growing demands of life. All life.