So We Get a Smaller and More Accountable Government? Read the Fine Print

Congratulations to the Republicans on their victories yesterday, running successfully on the message of a smaller and more accountable government. But I hasten to point out that there is identically zero precedent for Republican’s (or Democrat’s) actually delivering on that promise. As shown on the graph below, historically, government bureaucracies are never removed; they grow roughly with the GDP regardless of who’s in power. But – for a few weeks at least – the people can feel that they’re being heard as a new set of agendas comes to Washington.