The wrong question.

Years ago, I learned about a tactic that salesmen sometimes use to close a sale.  Instead of asking "Do you want to buy X", or something similar, they ask "Do you want a red one or a blue one?"  Either answers implies a "yes", and the customer wonders later just when he/she actually said "yes." 

There has been a huge debate in this country ever since I can remember about big government vs. little government.  To me, this is like asking if we want a red one or a blue one.  It's the wrong question. 

Conservatives believe that little government is, in general, better than big.  This is a rather sweeping generalization.  I very much dislike generalizations, even if they are true, because they can blind us to the details and the exceptions. 

Every issue or item must be analysed separately and independently.  We must ask first - what do we want to happen?  Then we look to see what works.  Period.  If it's big government, little government, local government, federal government, private industry, or some combination, we should stick to what works. 

Let's look at function of the federal government that is huge, spends lots of money, and yet even conservatives (or especially conservatives) agree is in general, money well spent.  That's the military.  Yes, it's a function of the federal government.  Our military is the best in the world.  Recently, there have been scandles about private contractors working for the military and making complete asses of themselves.  In this case, was private industry better than the governement employees (soldiers)?  No way!  The private contractors were much more expensive and did a much worse job.  Blanket statements about how private industry is better than government just don't apply here.

So, what's the right question?  More later.