Source: Liberty Pen– Syndicated columnist and Fox News political commentator Charles Krauthammer

Source: The New Democrat

At risk of stating obvious ( not that I’ve never taken that risk before ) and I feel in this case it might be necessary since the term big government gets thrown out a lot I believe it’s necessary to define exactly what big government is and what it isn’t. Because it means a lot to everyone and to some people like Socialists and Communists, big government doesn’t exist at all to them because they believe in unlimited government in many cases. And for Anarchists or people who call themselves Anarcho-Libertarians, big government to them is government that tries to do anything without their direct personal consent and permission. So it’s important to explain exactly what big government is and what it isn’t first and then Charles Krauthammer second.

Source: Jan Welflin– Charles Krauthammer, on Conservatives

To put it simply, big government is government that does or tries to do too much. And if that is not simple enough, I suggest that maybe you have issues with the English language and perhaps need a translator to follow along.

But government attempting to run private industries and nationalizing private businesses are examples of big government.

Government telling free adults who they can consensually live and sleep with would be examples of big government like these so-called sodomy laws that attempt to outlaw homosexuality.

Government telling people who much they can eat and drink or what they can eat and drink, these nanny state laws would be examples of big government.

Government telling people where they can send their kids to school, would be an example of big government.

Government telling people where they can and can’t get their health care and health insurance and trying to outlaw health care and health insurance in the private sector, would be examples of big government in America, even if Britain likes that type of health care system for themselves.

Government trying to outlaw law clearly constitutionally protected forms of free speech and expression. Like critical speech, hate speech even, pornography, certain forms of music and music videos that have a lot of adult content in them, TV shows and movies with adult content. Political correctness is a form of big government as well.

Big government is government that tries to do too much for the people and do for the people that they can do for themselves and do better for themselves. Like deciding where to send their kids to school and how to educate them. Where to get their health care and health insurance. How to plan their retirement and manage their money, including investing their money or even gambling their money. Government outlawing consensual sexual conduct where money even is exchanged like anti-prostitution laws, to me at least as a Liberal ( Classical Liberal if you prefer ) are big government laws and anti-free choice laws.

What Charles Krauthammer, was talking about here in this video when he was talking about big government like the Great Society are public safety net programs. Social insurance programs that are only there for people who are low-income and don’t outlaw any private economic or personal activity, aren’t big government laws or programs, but social insurance programs for people who are low-income. These laws don’t make anything illegal or even make any form of consensual activity illegal, but give financial assistance to people who are in poverty even if they’re also working.

Liberty Pen: Charles Krauthammer- Insights on Big Government