If you read the news at all, you are reading about budget crisises at all government levels, due to unexpected (or expected deficits). Alas, where this may be taking us is best illustrated by this article from the Denver Post about Colorado Springs:
More than a third of the streetlights in Colorado Springs will go dark Monday. The police helicopters are for sale on the Internet. The city is dumping firefighting jobs, a vice team, burglary investigators, beat cops — dozens of police and fire positions will go unfilled.
The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.
Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.
Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.
City recreation centers, indoor and outdoor pools, and a handful of museums will close for good March 31 unless they find private funding to stay open. Buses no longer run on evenings and weekends. The city won’t pay for any street paving, relying instead on a regional authority that can meet only about 10 percent of the need.
This is a city that is so broke they are doing a significant cutback in services. This isn’t just in Colorado Springs. Los Angeles is looking at large cutbacks; the state is facing an unprecedented budget crisis. Do I even need to mention the Federal budget problems.
Now, I’m not a teaparty type (unless one is serving a decent Darjeeling). I’m not a strong Liberatarian type. I do feel there is a role for government in providing various services. But reading articles like the ones I cited, I’m beginning to think that those wanting a smaller government may get it unintentionally due to the budget crisis. My fear is not that the size of government will be reduced (we truly can’t afford these deficits), but that the reduction will be done in a “slash and burn, take that!” manner, instead of something well thought out that makes those government services that are required more efficient.
