It seems to me that the rhetorical move from discussing the proper role of government to discussing the size of government, while tempting when speaking metaphorically, is unfortunate and has led to a lot of muddy thinking. We want government to be a powerful and vigorous defender of our liberty. In the modern world, for example, we need a permanent and strong military. Focusing on size can lead conservatives to justify state, county, or local governments operating outside of their proper sphere on the basis of them being smaller in various dimensions. Ultimately, government grew into areas it should not have for philosophical reasons but "small government" rhetoric has not helped in holding back the tide.
Hard to believe we got from that society to what we have become in so little time.
https://archive.is/20230804171253/https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-founders-anticipated-the-threat-of-trump-becda1b
I thought you might get a kick out of this.
It seems to me that the rhetorical move from discussing the proper role of government to discussing the size of government, while tempting when speaking metaphorically, is unfortunate and has led to a lot of muddy thinking. We want government to be a powerful and vigorous defender of our liberty. In the modern world, for example, we need a permanent and strong military. Focusing on size can lead conservatives to justify state, county, or local governments operating outside of their proper sphere on the basis of them being smaller in various dimensions. Ultimately, government grew into areas it should not have for philosophical reasons but "small government" rhetoric has not helped in holding back the tide.