Imagine that the US government shutdown for several weeks. Then imagine that fewer than 1 in 10 voters say the shutdown was a significant event. Wouldn’t that strongly suggest, wonders James Freeman in the WSJ, that we are operating with more government than we need?

Among registered voters, the most popular answer to this question is “not at all” at 48%. The second most popular answer is “a little,” selected by 26% of respondents. A 17% sliver of the electorate says they have been affected “somewhat,” while only a mere 9% answer “a great deal.” 

Government Riddled with Inefficiencies (from Scott Kupor, federal Office of Personal Mgt)

For example, we spend your taxpayer dollars on “non-objectives” – e.g., things other than what the president or the agency secretary has determined are in fact real objectives. We also duplicate resources that could be more efficiently managed through some modicum of planning – e.g., we have 119 disparate [human resources information systems], none of which integrate with one another nor provide any broader view of overall government talent. And we have decided in our infinite wisdom that we should have nearly 300,000 hiring managers who are basically unmanaged in their ability to bring in new employees, while at the same time lacking any accountability on hiring and performance management standards.