Prager Univ. Video Asks: 'Is Government Ever Big Enough?'

Nick Kangadis | March 15, 2016
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The latest Prager University video asks the question, “Government: Is it ever big enough?”

That really depends on who you are asking. If you ask a liberal, socialist, Marxist or Communist the answer will almost always be “no.”

If you ask the same question to a conservative, libertarian or a person with plain old common sense, the answer will usually be, “Government is already too big!”

Depending which side you lean toward, presenter William Voegeli asks some pretty straightforward questions that any informed person should be able to answer. Unfortunately, the low-information voter has become its own demographic.

In the video, Voegeli asks, “When was the last time you heard a liberal politician say, ‘Yeah, we solved that social ill. We’re just going to close up that government agency now, and move on to another problem’?”

I’ll wait for your answer…

Still waiting…

I had a hard time with that one as well. Asking a liberal to stop spending or enlarging the government is like asking a camel not to spit.

Voegeli continues with a rather alarming piece of information:

In 1948, government spending amounted to 17 percent. Just over one-sixth of our gross domestic product (GDP), the total value of all the goods and services produced by the American economy that year. In 2014, government spending was 32 percent of GDP, just under one-third. This trend puts us on a steady course to a European social democracy. One where government spends 50 percent of GDP.

We all see how well Europe is looking right now. Greece went bankrupt. Spain and Ireland are not far behind, and the U.K. is going to hold a vote on whether to stay in the European Union (EU) at all.

The second question posed by Voegeli was, “Should America govern itself on this basis? That is, should America become like Europe?”

The answer?

Healthy skepticism of government, even when it announces its intention to use its power benevolently, is a central feature of that character. The ‘Don’t Tread on Me' spirit that animated the founding remains strong. Most Americans persist in believing that a government powerful enough to give you everything you want will also necessarily be powerful enough to take away everything you have, including your freedom.

Government doesn’t really spend to make your life better. Government spends to enslave you into their way of thinking and to give you the illusion that you are free. In reality, the more government spends the tighter the shackles get.

For the full Prager University video, watch below:

 

 

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