Big government or little government?If your name were Barack Obama, you would most likely be saying that in one way or another, you favor big government interaction. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t think we can preserve our American spirit by increasing the involvement of the government in everyday affairs.I understand the importance of recent events that big government enthusiasts have pointed to as support of their argument.But I believe that more government interaction and a continuous move toward socialism is not something that is going to make America stronger.Only a few weeks ago, the free market as we know it came to an end when the federal government decided to provide a $700 billion bailout for banks and insurance companies, but not before Congress was able to attach an additional $150 billion worth of pork.Already, a second bailout for the nation’s automakers has been proposed, all of this to be paid by the money that the Treasury does not have.We are already paying a lot of money to defend our country, and we can’t afford to be taking care of those that can’t take care of themselves.Why is big business privy to this bailout when entrepreneurs like Joe the plumber are held accountable for their decisions? America was built strong by smart entrepreneurs who are able to make business succeed.A lot of people can argue the good points of a government bailout in that we want to infuse capital into our economic system in hopes of preventing another Great Depression.But this precedent of “The Golden Parachute” for companies that have made bad business decisions and choices goes against the free market value of accountability.Why should business act responsibly when they know that the government lurks in the background, ready to solve all their problems?Business should take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences for poor decisions.Isn’t this what makes America succeed?In the short term, we would suffer more for having these companies fail; but in the long term, it sets a precedent in corporate America that we will stand to benefit from fiscal responsibility and accountability.The bailout is a delay of the consequences of bad business decisions; the proverbial piece of gum on the crack in the dam.By not dealing with the consequences, now it is future generations of taxpayers that will assume the burden of our crushing national debt.Many Americans would have rather gone through a few years of lean times than sign on to the bailout, which is the effective mortgaging of America.In an increasingly competitive and global economy, we can only hope that the newly-placated businesses can stay productive and competitive, and that the American national debt does not become so toxic that we will have to be bailed out by our new owner: China.