Perhaps the biggest danger of a bloated government is that it no longer serves the people it was created to serve — it only serves and benefits itself.
This was really brought home by the federal government’s overreaction and heavy-handed response to the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in March of 2020.
Reams have been written about the huge financial hit America took that was directly attributable to the closure of businesses.
All levels of were affected, from personal finances to the U.S. economy as a whole.
Economists, public policy researchers and other experts estimate that by the end of this year, the economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. will reach $14 trillion, according to Fortune.
But while wealth can be replaced over time, human lives cannot.
The Associated Press reported Friday that nearly 50,000 Americans took their own lives last year, which was an all-time high. An "expert" from Johns Hopkins believes she knows the source of the spike — access to guns.
"I don’t know if you can talk about suicide without talking about firearms," said Jill Harkavy-Friedman, senior vice president of research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
But firearms and access to them aren’t the cause of suicide — they’re only a means.
Other experts point to a number of other, more obvious factors as the cause for the increase, including higher rates of depression and limited access to mental health services.
In addition to all this — the loss of income and wealth, the inability to socialize with friends at bars, restaurants, gyms, churches and synagogues — government clamped down on our right to freely express ourselves.
We can’t even go to the drug store to buy Alka-Seltzer Plus without being confronted with a list of possible side effects — no matter how remote they may be.
Drug companies are required to do this by law.
Failure to disclose even a rare but serious side effect can lead to huge monetary damages.
But not only were no side effects listed for the mRNA COVID vaccine, we could expect to be silenced if we mention, for example, that:
- Someone fully vaccinated came down with COVID
- Someone fully vaccinated transmitted the disease to others
- There was an abnormal increase in blood clotting among those who took the COVID-19 vaccine
- Even young, healthy athletes suffered an unexplained death after being vaccinated
Time after time the Biden administration told social media companies to remove "
"unacceptable" posts from sources that included the New York Post and The Daily Wire, according to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
"In 2021, the White House wanted to control what narratives and true content was posted on Facebook surrounding #COVID19," said the Ohio Republican.
"President Biden went so far to say that Facebook was 'killing people' for allowing certain statements to be published on the site."
Not all Americans were losers, though.
While the pharmaceutical companies were reaping billions in profits, they were granted immunity from any liability for damages sustained as a result of taking the vaccine.
As bad as that was, it gets much worse when it comes to Dr. Anthony Fauci.
At the same time that he was mandating that everyone take the vaccine and was pushing for stringent lockdowns of schools, businesses and places of worship, he was also getting wealthy.
While middle America struggled to house, clothe, and feed their families, Fauci and other high-ranking public health officials were raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments.
They profited off the virus that Fauci’s organization allegedly helped fund to develop.
None of this would have been possible without the bloated bureaucracy that the U.S. government has created, and reducing its size is now a favorite talking point of Republican presidential hopefuls.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said he would eliminate entirely the Department of Education, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and even the FBI.
Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., said he would eliminate the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Commerce, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Education, and would also go after what’s been dubbed the "deep state."
The person eventually elected has to make this their first priority.
Even politicians, who rely on the voters for their jobs, show little interest in serving the public.
As Hawaiians mourned their dead and prayed for the hundreds still missing after a wild fire destroyed a Maui city last week, President Biden was asked about the rising death toll.
"No comment," he said Sunday before leaving a Rehoboth beach, where he’d spent several hours relaxing in the sun.
A government big enough to give you everything you want is powerful enough to take everything you have.
It’s past time to cut out the fat so that it can work for us again.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.
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