Kerby Anderson

Big government isn’t working, according to Newt Gingrich. He doesn’t ask you to accept his conclusion but encourages you to check it out for yourself. Here are his suggestions. “Go to your local gas station and ask folks filling up their gas tanks if they think things are working. Go to the grocery store and watch people coping with the rising cost of food and ask if they think things are working. Go to small businesses whose shipments are still hung up on container ships anchored off Long Beach and ask them if they think things are working.” He gives other examples, including some of the sobering statistics about crime. Each of these examples illustrates why most Americans are convinced that big government is failing. He refers to that as “Big Government Socialism” because a recent national survey found that a majority (53%) of Americans describe the current administration as “Big Government Socialism.” He also adds that “This passion for total control fits the warnings of Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World,’ George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm,’ and Friedrich Hayek’s ‘The Road to Serfdom.’” Several people I know have decided to go back and read some of these books. If you are wondering how to communicate these ideas to your children or grandchildren, he suggests you watch the film, “The Grasshopper and the Ants” based on the Aesop fable that describes two different approaches to life. The ants work constantly storing up food. The grasshopper enjoys life. He thinks hard work is a waste of time and makes fun of the ants. When winter approaches, the grasshopper nearly starves to death, but is saved by the generosity of the ants. This is a lesson we should teach our children. Come to think of it, perhaps it is also a lesson we should teach to some of our politicians.