Russell Kirk and other great conservative thinkers have favored smaller government at the federal level, while championing effective and responsive government at the level of county commissions and city councils.  Decisions most affecting the lives of citizens should be made locally, and as Kirk would say, “voluntarily.”  (This is how I got started in politics.  I worked to help a friend get elected to a city council.)  A strong, centralized, and distant federal government tends to be more hostile to human freedom and dignity.  The modern Republican Party needs to remember this and develop candidates at all levels of the political strata.  Doing so means reaching out to African-Americans and forging alliances—especially around the issue of protecting traditional marriage.  Atlanta-area African-American pastor Wellington Boone has noted that an increasing number of blacks resent the fact that civil rights movement has been hijacked by people arguing that allowing a man to marry a man is morally equivalent to protecting freedom for all people regardless of skin color.

Republicans are pretty good at saying we want smaller government, and passing the "balanced-budget" amendment back in 1996 would have been the ticket to get that smaller government. Unfortunately, it lost by one vote in the Senate. As long as the Feds can print money, government will grow.