US politics: “weaponization of the federal government”

Self-tutoring about US politics: the tutor begins a conversation.

I’m a Canadian, but few people love the US more than I do. I love Canada as well. Some people seem to think that the two countries are opposed somehow, so that liking one means not the other. That’s nonsense, of course. In my experience, most Americans in border states like Canada, too.

Many political idealists have been saying, for decades, that America is developing counter to its own ideology. America was based on the idea of a small federal government – the smallest possible, in fact. However, the American federal government has ballooned out of control, just in my lifetime.

Let me give an idea to explain what I mean. Back in ’78, under Carter, the US federal expenditure was 20.2% of the GDP. In 2023, under Biden, it’s predicted to be 24.5%. That might not seem like much change, but 24.5/20.2 = 1.21, or 121%. So, since ’78, the US federal government’s share of the GDP has increased by over 20%. In other words, the US federal government is growing faster than the country itself.

So, if the US federal government is 20% bigger, relative to the country, than it was in ’78, what’s it doing now that it didn’t do then?

We’ll hopefully continue this dialogue. In the meantime, here are some resources for the curious:

YT: Forbes Breaking News

judiciary.house.gov: morris-testimony

ucsb.edu