Obama says "big government" is not the answer to our big problems.   He told an Elyria, Ohio Town Hall on January 22:  We don't need big government; we need smart government -- that works and interacts with the private sector to create opportunity for ordinary people. But it can't be this constant ideological argument. People need help. We need to provide them a helping hand. That's what we stand for.Maybe the "ideological argument" isn't whether big or small government is best, but rather, what the definition of "big government is"...is. One measure would be the number of employees on the government payroll.  According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute:  Thanks to the $800 billion stimulus package, and other huge government spending increases, the number of federal and state employees is projected to increase massively. The federal government's payroll may grow by more than 200,000, and perhaps as much as 600,000,...(Read Full Post)