What happens when government gets too big is not a matter
of theory, but of observed reality.
It multiplies oppression, multiplies the burdens on
people and multiplies corruption. This is because as it gets bigger, getting
ahead becomes a matter of controlling government policy and holding official
positions. Cronyism takes over, offices become bought and paid for positions, and other
forms of corruption take hold. Those best able to exploit this are also those
who are most likely to exploit the people and this leads to a cycle of decay in
a society.
This has been observed in all societies where the
government bureaucracy has gotten too big, it makes society unbalanced, like a
top heavy 4wd. And what happens when a top heavy 4wd turns too fast or goes
sideways down a hill? It tips.
Think of government bureaucracy like a roof rack on a
4wd. It's a necessity for any capable go anywhere 4wd. But it needs to be in a
small ratio compared to the truck or the 4wd will be put in danger.
This is why our governments are passing increasingly
intrusive laws. This process is well and truly underway. What we saw in Rome,
and many other societies, we see today:
“So far the machinery of the
new government in its several parts has been described. We must now consider in
outline what was its total effect upon the inhabitants of the Empire. The
inability of the ruler to assure good government to his subjects was made
conspicuous by the frequent creation of new offices, whose object was to curb
the corruption of the old. The multiplication of the functionaries in close
touch with the population rendered oppression more certain and less punishable
than ever. Lactantius declares, with pardonable exaggeration, that the number
of those who lived on the taxes was as great as the number who paid them. The
evidence of official rapacity is abundant. The laws thundered against it in
vain. Oftentimes it happened that illegitimate exactions were legalised in the
empty hope of keeping them within bounds. Penalties expressed in laws were
plain enough and numerous enough. For corruption in a province not only the
governor but his whole officium were liable to make heavy recompense. And the
comparative powerlessness of the governor is shewn by the fact that the offcium
is more heavily mulcted than its head. But a down-trodden people rarely will or
can bring legal proof against its oppressors. Nothing but extensive arbitrary
dismissal and punishment of his servants by the emperor, without insistence on
forms of law, would have met the evil.
As it was, corruption reigned through the Empire with little check, and the
illicit gains of the emperor's servants added to the strain imposed by the
heavy imperial taxation. Thus the benefit which the provincials had at first
received by the substitution of Imperial for Republican government was more
than swept away. Their absorption into the Roman polity on terms of equality
with their conquerors, brought with it degradation and ruin.”[1]
What we are seeing in our society is the exact thing we
should expect with government becoming such a major employer and part of the
economy. Holding the reigns of power is now necessary to ensure economic viability
in multiples areas of our society. This means that more and more people will
compete to control these offices and powers and use them to support their
particular ideology or tribe. You can bet, unless a particularly skilled and brilliant
government comes to power, one that no one can see on the horizon, that this
process will continue to get worse.
List of References
[1] The
Cambridge Medieval History Volume 1, edited by J.B. Bury. P.51.
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