I work with Congress. Big government isn’t the answer.

*Blog written by Helder Toste, Government Affairs Director at The LIBRE Initiative*

In his inauguration speech as New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani said we should “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism and embrace the warmth of collectivism” — in other words, he is arguing for more power to be concentrated in government.

As someone with a lot of experience working with Congress, I can say confidently that Mamdani’s approach is wrong. Very wrong.

I know how our government works. I’ve seen how bills are written, I’ve spent long nights waiting on House votes, and I’ve spent more time reading 1,000-page bills than is medically advisable.

And I know this: Giving more power to the federal government won’t fix what is broken.

[I recently talked with Izzy Ortega about this on the Red, White, & Latino podcast.]

Why people think “big government” is the answer

People get frustrated when rent keeps rising, when a surprise medical bill shows up, or when grocery prices keep going up.

It’s normal to look at how expensive everything has become and think, “Someone should do something about this.”

Usually, that “someone” means the federal government, and that usually leads to more agencies, more regulations, and much more spending.

In practice, that strategy rarely works as promised.

Why big government isn’t the solution

Here are three reasons why creating new government programs isn’t really the solution.

1. The government is too slow and bureaucratic

The first thing you learn when you work in Washington, D.C., is that government moves slowly. Very slowly.

Every time a new government program is created, it comes with layer after layer of reviews, agency sign-offs, legal checks, regulations, procedural hurdles, political negotiation, and often litigation.

Too often, the result is more bottlenecks and bureaucracy, instead of real solutions.

2. Bad incentives and unintended consequences

The good intentions behind new or expanded government programs aren’t enough to prevent unintended consequences.

Take Medicaid expansion. In an effort to increase insurance coverage, eligibility was expanded in many states to include low-income, able-bodied adults without dependent children.

This meant that states were rewarded financially for signing up more people: The more they enrolled, the more federal dollars they received.

What happened? Enrollment surged. In some places, eligibility errors increased, oversight weakened, and fraud became harder to prevent. When government funding formulas reward growth, programs grow, and they keep growing as long as the incentives remain.

Programs don’t shrink themselves, and I’ve never seen a bureaucracy vote itself out of a job.

3. Washington doesn’t know your life

Finally, government cannot completely fix our lives.

The federal bureaucracy is sheltered in Washington, D.C., writing rules for more than 330 million people at once. It cannot possibly know the details of your household budget, your medical needs, your small business inventory cycle, or the problems your community faces.

The best solutions usually come from the people closest to the problem.

Government has an important role to play in society, but that role isn’t to manage every part of our lives.

The real policy solutions

So, if more government isn’t the answer, what is?

On the economy, we need less government and more predictable rules. Families and small businesses need lower taxes and simpler regulations so they can plan, hire, and grow.

On health care, patients and doctors should be calling the shots, not Washington bureaucrats. Expanding telehealth, improving language access, and giving patients more control would improve care for families across the country.

On energy, excessive regulation is driving up our bills. Projects take years to approve, supply stays tight, and prices stay high. Families feel that every month in their utility bills.

On immigration, we need both a secure border and an immigration system that works. Right now, our broken system lets good people fall through the cracks, hurts our economy, and stalls American progress.

The real role of government

Government has a role in society. I’ve worked inside it and seen it do really well when it sticks to its job: keeping America safe, enforcing our laws equally, and protecting our most basic rights.

But I’ve also seen how badly Washington does when it decides it knows better than you do how to run your life.

Our Founders did not fight a revolution to create a bigger bureaucracy. And my parents, like millions of Latino immigrants, didn’t come here looking for a government to run their lives.

They came for freedom and more opportunity. They came because of the ideas that made our country exceptional.

That’s why I work with The LIBRE Initiative.

Since 2011, we’ve fought to keep the principles and ideas that made America exceptional alive. We’ve championed policies that move power away from Washington and back to the American people.

Recently, we launched the One Small Step (un pasito) campaign to help preserve the principles that keep America free.

Ideas like limited government, dignity, the rule of law, opportunity, civic duty, and freedom are as relevant today as they were 250 years ago.

It’s up to us, not the federal government, to preserve these values for generations to come.

Join the movement. Take one small step, un pasito, with LIBRE to keep America free and prosperous.