Government should get closer to home

Government in Washington is getting too big and the polls are showing it. Pew Research Center released findings in a survey that showed nearly 80 percent of Americans have little faith that the massive federal bureaucracy can solve the nation’s ills.

It was never meant to be that way. That is why we have states and counties and parishes, to get government closer to home and more in tune with what the people want.

The federal government is there mainly to protect us and preserve our freedom. Other matters can best be handled closer to home where the people can have more input and consequently more representation.

Nearly half of the people in the survey said the federal government negatively affects their daily lives. As a result, the tea party movement has been born which has prompted many anti-government demonstrations around the country recently.

This big federal government has given us a bureaucracy that is full of red tape and inefficienties that make it impossible to serve the people well. Adding to the problem is the excessive amount of political partisanship that interferes with giving the people what they want and need.

It’s time for Congress and the administration to take a breather and concentrate on those jobs for which we need them. Allow the states and local governments and citizens to take care of the rest. They know what’s best for them.

And cut taxes so they can do it for themselves.