[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 153 (Thursday, September 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H9649-H9650]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TOO MUCH GOVERNMENT DOESN'T WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House the 
gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Duncan] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, a few days ago Ann McFedders, of the 
Scripps-Howard newspaper chain, wrote this: ``Americans are right to be 
disgusted with government right now. Events of recent days are 
alarming. They should be a warning to all politicians, police 
officials, and anyone hired by government.'' That woman has walked the 
straight and narrow, do not take short cuts, do not rationalize. She 
said, ``It is time to rethink the role of government.'' She was writing 
primarily about the horrible events at Waco and Ruby Ridge, But let me 
read her words again. ``Americans are right to be disgusted with 
government right now. Events of recent days are alarming.'' She said, 
``It is time to rethink the role of government.''
  William Raspberry, the very fine syndicated columnist for the 
Washington Post, wrote several months ago about some travels he had 
made around the country. He said, what were the people saying to him as 
he went around the Nation. He said this:

       It sounds very much like it doesn't work. Government 
     doesn't work. It costs more and becomes more intrusive with 
     each passing year, but hardly anywhere can it be said that it 
     is performing better. The trash cans get bigger, the refuse 
     separation rules more onerous, but the streets and alleys 
     aren't any cleaner. Criminal justice costs keep going up, but 
     the neighborhoods aren't safer. Schools become increasingly 
     expensive, and increasingly ineffective. Government doesn't 
     work.

                              {time}  1745

  Those are the words of William Raspberry. These are not the words of 
any conservative Republicans.
  I grew up in a political family, and I have been following governing 
and politics closely since my early teenage years. I do not believe; in 
fact, I am certain that I have never seen a time where there has been 
so much dissatisfaction, disgust, disappointment, disenchantment, 
frustration, resentment, even anger, toward government, in general, and 
toward the Federal Government, in particular, as there is today.
  As a conservative Republican, I have two reactions to this. First, I 
am sorry that things have gotten to the point that they have that so 
many people feel this way. But secondly, I also must tell you that in a 
way, I believe this is a good sign for our future. If government can 
solve all of our problems, the Soviet Union would have been heaven on 
Earth. Instead, every place where the people have allowed the 
government or their governments to get too big, they have ended up 
suffering and living under horrible conditions.
  So perhaps it is a good sign that so many people in such a clear, 
strong majority no longer believe in big government or no longer 
believe that government can solve all of our problems.

  Why are people so angry toward government today? Well, I believe it 
is because the Federal Government has become one that is of, by and for 
the bureaucrats instead of one that is of, by and for the people. Too 
often today our public service has become public high living, high 
salaries, high pensions, plush offices, short hours. Most importantly, 
and perhaps worst of all, unaccountability for huge and very costly 
mistakes. Our servants have become our rulers. The people are really 
fed up today. They are disgusted with the waste, the lavish spending, 
the arrogance.
  Paul Greg Roberts, another nationally syndicated columnist, wrote 
this recently. He said:

       Six months after the inauguration of the new Republican 
     Congress, it has become apparent that the most important 
     issues facing the country are not economic. Without a doubt, 
     high taxes, profligate government spending and welfare 
     dependency are problems sorely in need of the attention 
     focused on them. But the real question is whether Congress 
     can reclaim the law from unelected bureaucrats and judges.

  He also said this:

       In the 20th century, there has been a coup against self-
     rule by bureaucrats and judges. Federal bureaucrats have 
     usurped statutory law with regulations that lack legislative 
     basis.

  I think these words of Paul Greg Roberts are right. He went on in 
this column to say:

       In the coming months we will discover whether the 
     Republican Congress can do something that the Democratic 
     Congress failed to do for 40 years: Hold government 
     accountable to the people. This, not the size of the Federal 
     budget, is the ultimate test of whether it matters which 
     party controls Congress.

  He said:

       The problem in America is not that the budget is out of 
     control, but that the government is.


[[Page H 9650]]

  There are so many examples that I could give of the fact that the 
government has come under the control of bureaucrats. One of the best 
came up recently in regard to the National Reconnaissance Office. It 
came out last year that they had spent $310 million building a new 
building that nobody knew about, a 1 million square foot building, $310 
a square foot.
  I would simply say this. It is time that we give the government of 
this country back to the people of this country and remind the Federal 
bureaucracy that they are working for us, and not us for them.

                          ____________________