[spinestein]

I always think of the "size of government" as the sum of two separate components. 1) The amount of money it takes out of the economy 2) The amount of intrusive regulations and laws that affect private citizens and private business

You are absolutely correct that historically the federal take of GNP is always around 20% +/- 2% and I'm glad that someone else recognizes its significance; the actual dollar amount can increase from year to year, and that's fine as long as the percentage taken out of the economy doesn't go up. Federal spending caps in the 90's moved the figure down to the low end of the range, but since they've expired, federal spending as a percentage of GNP is going back up, and if it gets into the 21-22% territory it will stifle the economy, as it always does.

As far as intrusive laws and regulations, there was an improvement during the Reagan years but, since then, it's been all downhill. The two areas that the government has been most intrusive are free speech (CFR) and eminent domain (eg. Kelo v. New London).

[justshutupandtakeit]

CFR is one of the most useless laws ever passed and has not limited the free speech of anyone except outright idiots. And it is fully within the explicit Constitutional authority of Congress to regulate federal elections.

Kelo merely recognized no federal interest in a local action. It also has produced considerable good as states were forced to act to reign in excessive condemnations. Some have put protections within their constitutions.
This needs to be attacked at the local and state levels.

One thing we should fear is that the RATS wise up one day and see that lowering tax rates can increase tax revenues. Then look out for a free for all of spending.