Can the US Government ever become smaller?

Answer 1

It is against the nature of governments to ever shrink themselves. Bureaucracies tend to be self aggrandizing in nature, but then so are corporations. They are self sustaining and only want to grow bigger; to take more power unto themselves and reduce individual influence and self determination from the people.
Can it become smaller, sure. Will it become smaller, highly unlikely.

Answer 2

Pretty hard to do.

Method #1. Why does each state need two Senators? Cut it to one Senator and you can cut the Senate staffing almost by half.

Method #2. Recalculate how we assign Representatives. Right now the number is set at 435. Reduce the number by 50% and you cut the House staffing almost by half.

(Neither method will work as those in office protect their jobs pretty much like any other union worker does.)

Method #3 Line item Veto. Right now a president can only veto a bill. If he could veto individual spending items in a bill, he could cut the pork. Pork is a big reason we have deficit spending.

Method #4. Go back on either the Silver or Gold Standard. When the federal government had to back up its debts with silver or gold, it had to keep the budget pretty much balanced. But when Johnson took us off the silver standard in 1964, deficit spending because the rule in Washington rather than the exception.

Method #5. Put a cap on income tax, or better yet, do away with it entirely.

(Methods #3, #4 or #5 will not work because Congress likes to spend money and they consider anything that limits their ability to spend as a "bad" thing.)

Method #6. Have a REALLY big recession. Nothing gets people madder at their government than when the fat cat government leaders are still living high on the hog while the common folk are starving. The French Revolution, the Russian revolution, the rise of Nazi Germany, etc. The USA only survived without a revolution during the Great Depression by tons of government handouts. (Roosevelt got the money by taking the USA off the gold standard, pulling in the gold and selling it on the world market, getting money for the people without raising taxes. However, since we no longer have gold or silver currency, that trick can not be done again.) Also during the Great Depression, the USA got serious about illegal immigration and deported thousands so they would not be taking jobs from Americans. (An added benefit of a big recession.) (FYI, look up "Operation W.E.T.B.A.C.K. ((had to write it that way due to the censor))))

(This method WILL work as it is totally out of the hands of the government. Only by them NOT being able to control things will government get smaller.)

Answer 3

The government has been downsizing for fourteen years. During the Clinton administration we had an initiative called "reinventing government". The lead person was Vice President Al Gore. The agencies of the government were streamlined, reorganized, and made to run more efficiently. In many ways the government was ahead of private industry in computerizing how things were done. When the Bush administration came into power the theory was to make government so small you could drown it in a bathtub. Federal agencies were sabotaged to serve a conservative agenda. Many functions were contracted out. This did not save tax dollars but only made fat cats even fatter with profits, while actual wages benefits and working conditions for the people who did the work deteriorated. Hopefully after the next election the Federal government can get back on track.

Answer 4

Can it? Yes

Should it? Of Course

Will it? Depends on the next elections.
If the democrats win it'll get bigger and you'll get broker
If a republican wins it'll stay the same size.
If a republican with a backbone wins it'll shrink and you'll be better able to feed your children.

Answer 5

Alas- probably not. I mean- think about it; our Government employs thousands & THOUSANDS of people... What politician of ANY stripe- is going to lay-off a whole bunch of them to reduce the size of it?! Politics is a "monster"- that only gets bigger...

Answer 6

the size of the bureaucracy is always in flux depending on the current attempts at reform, but I doubt it will ever shrink substantially

Answer 7

Yes. But only if we adopt term limits, and start holding our elected officials accountable. The bank's goin' bust.

Answer 8

the Constition already layed out the government so its set in stone

Answer 9

Yes. I think that the government is overloaded with people. I think that the government should be downsized.

Answer 10

If our population should shrink it would. Otherwise I doubt it.