> The founders of the country would shudder at at the size, scope and over-reach of the government...

I don't think they would (not all of them). Jefferson would for sure, but this is basically Alexander Hamilton's utopian dream. The world he wanted to create. Congrats Alex, you won, everybody else lost.

I agree w/ you that the govt is wasteful. I wish we had where states provide all the citizen benefits and also received the majority of tax revenues, and the fed was a lot smaller and even states managed their own armies and the fed just borrowed soldiers from states for international purposes. Basically their own countries just unionized over interstate commerce and such.