Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Think before you kiss your sister

Saving money by consolidating Kentucky's 120 counties into some smaller -- and less accountable -- number of governmental units is the public policy equivalent of kissing your sister.

Martin Cothran weighs in:
"The only thing that the consolidation of counties will do is to take the government of localities out of the localities themselves and place it in the hands of bureaucrats outside of the community being governed."

"Cothran's Rule of Government Efficiency plainly states, "There is No Such Thing." And one of corollaries of this Rule is: "The Bigger the Government Body, the More Inefficient It Is.""

Here's more.

Rooting out ways to save money on local government is a very worthwhile pursuit, but not at the expense of creating bigger government.