#13: A unified government will keep the public sector fit

Hamilton vows that if the 13 states remain united under a single national government, as provided by the Constitution, money would be saved because the federal government would remain efficient.

“If the States are united under one government, there will be but one national civil list to support; if they are divided into several confederacies, there will be as many different national civil lists to be provided for—and each of them, as to the principal departments, coextensive with that which would be necessary for a government of the whole.”

  The “civil list” is the roster of all government officials. It is correct that the US has only one civil list: One president, one vice president, one secretary of each department. There is, indeed, but one national government. But it is massive. More than 2 million people work for the national government. According to this report from Business Insider, total government employment including state and local jobs ranges from only 10.1% of all jobs in Michigan to 25% in Alaska.

Unity under the Constitution has avoided two presidents. But being limited to just one congress and just one president has kept the federal government trim and fit about as well as having only one mouth and one stomach keep all the citizens trim and fit.

Frugality isn’t a strong point of the national government in any other respect.