Americans Fund the Government, Patronize the Private Sector

Government has gotten bigger, but Americans' actions show they think it has gotten worse. We increasingly seek to circumvent or supplement the expanding services our government provides. In many areas, our choice is not the "free" or subsidized service our government provides, but a service we obtain for ourselves through the private sector.

Over recent decades, the role of government has expanded enormously and government's size has increased accordingly. There are now few areas of our lives where government is not present, and few areas of government that have not gotten substantially larger.

Historical budget numbers show this dual expansion. Its best measure is federal non-defense spending relative to GDP. In 1950, non-defense spending measured 10.4% of GDP. By 1970, it had increased only slightly to 10.8%. However, in the wake of the 1960s' Great Society legislation, federal non-defense spending increased almost 60% - to 16.1% of GDP - by 1990. By 2010, this spending increased significantly again, reaching 18.7% of GDP.

The increase is not over. The Congressional Budget Office estimates total federal spending will increase by another 10% over the next decade. As ObamaCare fully kicks in, this increase could be greater, just as spending increased with the Great Society. So while government has undeniably increased in scope and cost, our satisfaction with it has not only not kept pace, it has apparently declined. The evidence is the myriad ways we now seek to supplement it, if not entirely supplant it, in our lives. We need not be victims of the unfolding Veterans Administration scandal to know this. We experience it, even if we simply internalize it.

In government's most recent expansion, ObamaCare, the greatest windfall a group could obtain was to be exempted from it. First as the legislation was been drafted, now as it is being implemented, the sought-for brass ring has been exclusion from its mandates by waivers, and now, delay in its impact.

When we prepare to school our children, our first choices are frequently private school, charter school, or home schooling. The public school, which has never had more resources and where federal spending outstrips the great majority of the developed world's state-funded schools, is eschewed when possible. The outcome is: people are willing to renounce a "free" education (though they pay handsomely in taxes) and pay twice to avoid it.

If a crisis visits us, we want who to arrive...FEMA? Ask New Orleans of their experience and then ask where they would have preferred to have their aid come. In preparing for retirement, we do all we can to have added as much to our private retirement accounts as possible. This despite that virtually everyone is required to contribute to the federally-run retirement program that is Social Security. Ask any diligent saver whether she would prefer to put her additional savings into Social Security or a privately run retirement account.

When we send information, our last resort is the US Postal Service - "snail mail" - which continuously runs billions over budget. For correspondence, we email. For a package, we choose a private overnight shipper. The only area where USPS is "competitive" is where it is protected from competition by a federal monopoly: carrying mail. When we fly, we pay for the privilege of expedited processing through our government security screening process.

Nor is this trend only with the federal government. In our neighborhoods, the height of security is provided by a gated community with private security. It is effectively isolated from the rest of its locality, which receives its security from...a publicly funded police force.

Non-defense federal government is roughly 80% larger relative to the economy than it was just 40 years ago. It is continuing to grow and - with the addition of large new programs like ObamaCare - it is projected to continue growing. Retirement of a growing portion of the population will give further increase.

Yet while government is consuming an increasing amount of the nation's economy, increasing numbers of Americans are seeking to consume less of government. In the private sector, paying more and getting less is unheard of. It is a hallmark of inefficiency we never encounter. In the private sector, consumers demand to pay less and get more. Marketplace forces ensure this standard is met.

Government has grown immensely, like few other areas in our lives. Yet our acceptance of it, has decreased. In no other area of our lives would this happen. To write this off to the government being a monopoly- like the Post Office - is to miss the essential point. Government grows not because it holds a monopoly status, but because it holds a compulsory one.

Confronting a monopoly, we still can choose to not purchase at all - a route increasing numbers of Americans apparently take when it comes to government services. This is not the case when confronting a compulsory provider. As a result, there is no natural brake on just how far government can expand, either qualitatively or quantitatively. And there is apparently no alternative for us but to continue to fund it, while increasingly seeking other alternatives.