Milton Friedman on why it is so hard to keep government from expanding:
“The benefits from government tend to be concentrated. The costs tend to be dispersed.”
“To each farmer, the subsidy he gets from the government means a great deal. To each of a much larger number of consumers, it costs very little.”
“Consequently, those who feed at the trough of government tend to be politically much more powerful than those who provide the wherewithal.”