on using budgets to "limit" government

[acroyear]

The Deep Game of the Cat Food Simpson-Bowles Commission : Mike the Mad Biologist:

[...] the notion that the amount of money spent by the government has anything to do with 'limits' is absurd: a government that only spends money on police and surveillance is 'limited' as a percentage of GDP, but is quite intrusive. On the other hand, if we were to double the amount paid out in Social Security (not saying we should, just providing an example), but repeal the Patriot Act, I would argue that is actually limiting government.