Size of government is driving populist rage

William F. Brennan, Las Vegas

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

Frank Rich’s Sunday column in the Las Vegas Sun (“Populist anger on the right is about a lot more than racism”) came close but couldn’t break through his personal prejudices regarding the motivation behind the tea party in Washington and his animosity toward Glenn Beck.

Columnist David Brooks got it right. The demonstration was Jeffersonian and was in opposition to the two major political parties and big government.

Both the Republicans and Democrats in Congress have but one goal — to get reelected. For that to happen, they need money, so they kowtow to those who have money. A populist cannot run for public office because of the tremendous price to campaign.

Unless you are from one of the two established parties, you cannot raise enough money to compete. The result is two parties that share a goal of rewarding their supporters and growing government.

Just about the only organization hiring today is government. Big government strangles initiative and creates bureaucracies whose sole purpose is preservation and growth.

That government that governs best is the government closest to the problem. But the federal government has imposed itself in many areas that a lower layer of government should be handling and has, in so doing, violated the restrictions placed on the federal government by the Constitution.

It is time for the states to assert themselves. It is past time for the federal government to return to its constitutional duties and not just stop the geometric growth of government employment, but also eliminate those departments that impinge on states’ rights, i.e., the Education Department.

“Power to the people” had a different meaning in the ’70s, but it does seem an appropriate slogan today. Perhaps it could be modified to “Power to the states.”