Ever since Franklin Roosevelt promised Americans a new deal in 1932, liberal politicians

and pundits have insisted that the government must do more to alleviate poverty, increase

economic security, and enhance the quality of life.

But the word more implies there's a level of government activity that would be enough.

In reality, however, there's never enough.

That's because the liberal theory and practice of activist government is an endless pursuit

of a goal that can't be achieved.

When was the last time you heard a liberal politician say, yeah, we saw that social

ill.

We're just going to close up that government agency now, zero out the budget, and move

on to another problem.

What you hear instead is that we need more, and more always sets the stage for still more

down the road.

Liberalism's lack of a limiting principle raises two questions.

First, can our republic govern itself on this basis?

Second, should it?

My answers are maybe and no.

Maybe we can go on, at least for a while, to continue to expand entitlement spending.

We've been doing it for decades.

Adjusted for inflation and population growth, government spending, federal, state, and

local, was nearly seven times as large in 2014 as it was in 1948.

That sounds like a perfect example of the economist's adage.

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