"Ringy-dingy"

In case you can't tell by the content of my many ramblings, I am generally in favor of the government getting involved in regulating private industry. However, because of the crazy rantings of an Alzheimer's sufferer who is now the undeserving namesake of countless government buildings, people think that I'm stupid for tolerating the large government bureacracy. What they don't understand is that for every overweight lazy bureaucrat suckling at the teat of the American taxpayer, there are many overweight lazy private employees suckling at the teat of the American consumer. Fortunately for both groups, Americans generally have two or more teats.

Many people seem to think that the government would function better if it were run more like a business. I can't tell you how many times I've heard someone say, "If I ran my business like the government, I'd go out of business!" I've got news for you: you do.

The government is not one single entity. It is actually many different entities that usually operate completely independent of each other. Rather than think of the government as one huge entity, think of it more like GE - America's largest corporation. GE has many divisions that operate in many varied industries from jet engines to NBC. No doubt, GE also wastes millions of dollars a year because of inefficiency, has many indifferent or even corrupt employees, and has difficulty keeping their stockholders happy.

A more personal example of this happened a few years ago when I needed to get prior authorization from my insurance company for some medications. Through the course of more than a week, I made countless phone calls, was on hold for many hours and almost didn't get the medicine I need to stay healthy. And this wasn't even that large of an insurance company!

In fact, at this very moment, I am listening to a story of someone who needed to get a car insurance claim processed by State Farm and had a very hard time getting it done.

Really, it doesn't matter if the organization is private or public, the result is the same - the larger it gets, the more inefficient it gets. That's just the way of things.

So, to all of you Reaganites that long for smaller government and less regulation of private industry (especially deregulation and loosening of antitrust laws), I ask you to imagine a world in which all private industry is consolidated in one bloated whole. Imagine trying to get your money back then.