In 1924, Pres. Calvin Coolidge said this:
“These are some of the reasons why I want to cut down on public expense. I want the people of America to be able to work less for the government and more for themselves. I want them to have the rewards of their own industry. This is the chief meaning of freedom."
And that was when the “public expense” was only 3.4% of GNP:
Pres. Calvin Coolidge was a true “free market” advocate. But in 2020, the levels of “public expense” by the federal government were much higher than 3.4% of GDP:
If 3.4% of GDP was already too much “public expense” by Pres. Coolidge’s standards of freedom, then what the heck were we doing in 2020 at 30.7% of GDP — almost 10 times too large?
This over-centralization/over-concentration of central power takes decisions out of the hands of private persons, cutting our freedoms, and — beyond it being immoral to restrict human freedom like that — it hampers innovation and productivity, making regular people more poor over time (while enriching cronies close to government).