Did the state grow bigger because we need more, or do we need more because the state grew bigger?

In response to a class discussion question, a close friend of mine wrote the following.  They prefer to remain anonymous but I thought it was pretty good and worth a post. :)



I would agree that the needs of the American people have grown. I will also agree that the Federal Administrative State has grown along with it.  However, I disagree with the order of operations, so to speak.  It would seem to me that the needs of the people have grown becuase of the steady, creeping growth of the administrative state.  In other words, the more services government provides, the more dependent the citizenry becomes on them and, thus, their "needs" increase.  It's a vicious cycle of addiction if you ask me.

I believe that this growth has dangerously undermined our country and its ability to survive.  Like a drug dealer, the government has sold us more and more "services" in the name of our own good.  Like a drug addict, we've come back asking for more and more, sacrificing more of our liberty, industriousness and communal connections for another hit.  What's worse is that we willingy make this sacrifice; indeed, we demand it.  It's sad that we look to the government to finance everything from our retirements to our healthcare to the education of our children.

Now, this is not all the government's fault.  In fact, I would argue that it is mostly not government's fault.  The fault lies squarely at the feet of the generations that have sold the liberties of their posterity to the government for temporary solutions to long-term problems.  The fault lies with a culture that has lost its trust in God and His providence, looking instead to the State for it's daily bread.  Furthermore, the fault lies with a culture that has given us a breed of politician for whom, to paraphrase the late William F. Buckley, Jr., spending is a form of eating.  The advocates of a large Federal Administrative state are correct in assuming that, left to their own devices, state and local governments wouldn't or couldn't deal with all of the issues and demands of the citizenry.  This is not progress, however.  The fact that we have become a society that thrives on creating an ever greater number of narrow issues and an even greater number of demands shows how far we've come from our noble beginnings, in which each man was responsible for his destiny and the welfare of his neighbor (via charity, not taxes).

Sounds about right to me.