JimJoe, I'll ask just a couple simple questions. They're intended to be examples of a role government can play that the private sector simply cannot achieve...

1. Would we have an interstate highway system like we do if President Eisenhower hadn't made it a national priority and gotten it approved by Congress? What would our country look like today, what would our economy look like had we relied on the states to build and pay for their parts of the system or private interests to build toll roads to be operated for a profit?

2. Would we have achieved all the scientific breakthroughs that came out of the space program unless it had been established as a national priority by President Kennedy? Would we have gone to the moon even today if we had relied only on the private sector to achieve that milestone while seeking a profit?

Our problem isn't government spending. It's government spending on the wrong things. It's government spending on things that are desired by special interests and with the Congressional votes needed to fund those programs bought an paid for by those interests. The list is a long one...farm subsidies, planes that even the military doesn't want...submarines that no one can see a need for with the security threats of the future...multiple federal programs, sometimes numbering in the dozens and dozens, all doing the same thing...a national healthcare system that has become unsustainably expensive while run for a profit...and on and on.

There doesn't need to be a lot of additional spending for government to play an important role in our future. What is needed is a clear definition of a set of national priorities and a steel-willed resistance to efforts to politicize the implementation of those priorities.