It’s gotten even worse than President Reagan indicated when he quipped that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” For President Reagan, that meant that the government was sure to screw things up and make matters worse. But now it is increasingly apparent that government agencies at another level actually do help -- help themselves. When government agencies arrive to help right an injustice or rectify a bad situation they use that as a basis to permanently expand their agency footprint. Just as business are constantly trying to expand or grow, government agencies are using every crisis to expand and grow. The caveat is, that in the case of government agencies, they are not checked and tested and honed by competition. “The Federal Octopus” is how Victor Davis Hanson puts it. Government agencies have become “a law unto themselves” and exist for their own...(Read Full Post)