Leaner government? Treasure the thought

By Jim Waters

A chasm exists between anti-government zealots and those who believe in limited government.

One group believes in anarchy. The other holds to the principle offered in a statement attributed most often to Thomas Jefferson: "government governs best which governs least."

Again, that's "governs least," not "governs not at all."

Most big-spending politicians would rather chase skunks than endorse the slightest leaning toward limiting the scope of government. So they employ the "blurring-lines" tactic to make it impossible to distinguish between the very different positions of governing "least" and "not at all."

Todd Hollenbach offered an example of that during this year's primary race for state treasurer.

Hollenbach accused his opponent, Melinda Wheeler, who built her campaign around the idea of eliminating the state Treasurer's Office, of trying to pull rabbits out of a hat while trailing in the primary race.

If you read this after the Nov. 6 election, either Hollenbach or Wheeler has been elected state treasurer. So this column does not serve as an endorsement of either candidate. It does represent a stand against Hollenbach's mischaracterization of people who salivate with Pavlov dog-like enthusiam when someone suggests shrinking government. It happens so rarely.

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