In his Inaugural Address, Obama stated, “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”

This thought was echoed recently by NY Times columnist David Brooks (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/opinion/04brooks.html), who stated that it the size of government is not important, and rather that “The crucial question is: How does government influence how people live?”

But one might wonder, doesn’t the size of government matter when it comes to its effectiveness? Bureaucracy and wastefulness alone are notable byproducts of larger organizations. Shouldn’t that be guarded against?

Doesn’t the size of government matter when it comes to its effect on the people? After all, the bigger the government is, the more it occupies the people’s lives. Isn’t the size of government at least an important indicator of the condition of a people?