Bring On Big Government

If it means more cops on the beat, more ambulances to respond when I choke on a fish bone, or more firefighters to keep California from burning to the ground in the dry season, then by all means, give me Big Government.

Bring it on, as Shrub would say.

I want more employees in the FDA to keep Big Pharma from peddling me drugs that prove dangerous within five years of their release on the market; more inspectors for the chicken growers whose eggs contain salmonella, and more IRS agents to catch the tax cheats who make me pay more than my fair share for the commons.

I’d like more nurses, whether in our public hospitals or in the private sector, so that if I end up hospitalized with an “e coli” infection that’s resistant to any available antibiotic I have an angel to hook me up to an IV and monitor my vital signs. And hold my hand if I am croaking.

It would be lovely to have enough teachers so that classroom sizes didn’t exceed 20. I’d pay extra for that.

Please give me more investigators to prevent Medicare fraud so that Medicare will be around when I need it in my dotage.

I’m not so keen on expanding government to revamp the interstate highway system, as depleted oil supplies and rising oil prices will soon make our roads obsolete. So I’d prefer that my hard-earned money not go down that rathole. But I’d sure like to see more government subsidies for rail, whether high speed or just restoring our existing tracks.

I’d write a bigger check for more FEMA employees (as long as they aren’t beholden to industry) so the country could respond efficiently to a disaster like Hurricane Katrina. Likewise, the Minerals and Management Service (MMS) could use some higher-caliber employees to prevent accidents that kill our coal miners. If we have to pay more to expand these departments, I’m all for it.

And let’s not short-change our veterans, who go off on questionable missions like Iraq or Afghanistan, and return with missing limbs, brain damage, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, only to find no resources to treat them.

Where Big Government loses its luster for me is its entry into my doctor’s office or my bedroom. I don’t need government dictating to me whether I will have an abortion or use marijuana to ease the symptoms of an untreatable illness.

Most of all, I’m tired of paying for endless wars that don’t make us more secure but only enrich the mercenaries and munitions makers.

That’s the sort of Big Government I think most of us could agree we should dump.