Excellent Article

John Stossel, the host of a program (I forget which) on one of the major networks (I forget which) writes eloquently about the need for smaller and less intrusive government.

He started his career doing pieces on big bad and evil corporations, but a few years ago, he had a sort of awakening, recognizing that big government was actually at the root of many more social ills, whether that was through encouraging mediocrity and dependency, or, as his article points to today, discouraging the use of private charity.

I like his article, not because I haven't heard this point before, but because it stresses what small-government types should stress more: the welfare-state may be well-intentioned and expectedly inefficient, but it is also cruel.

Yes, I myself like to dwell on the beauty of selfishness and a survival-of-the-fittest society, but those points don't appeal to most folks.

Big government doesn't help the poor in any meaningful way, it hurts the rest of society through ridiculously high income tax levels and it makes people less willing to share and help others - while leaving that duty to hopelessly inept bureucracies.

Having essentially forsaken any emotional or mental stake in observing Canadian partisan politics (and I hope it stays this way), as a detached and objective observer, I hope to god that Canada, by any means, reigns in the size of its government; anything less would be cruel to the poor and hurtful to the rest of Canada.