I was hoping that I could leave government alone this week after last week’s column about government gone bad in Washington, D.C., but as one could fully expect government continues to fail us in one way or another.

This week’s news brought tales of government failure at the local, state and federal levels, some of which could have been funny except that it is costing taxpayers millions, if not billions, of dollars.

I wasn’t even surprised that James “Whitey” Bulger after being found guilty of 11 murders, racketeering and extortion stated he was glad that his trial exposed government corruption.

I will start with the state of Maine’s decision to change the contractors who arrange for the non-emergency transportation of people on MaineCare. The change was effective on Aug. 1 and as I expected, the change itself wasn’t effective because many of the people needing transportation did not receive it. I knew this change was coming because a friend in the business was nice enough to tell me trouble was coming.

What initiated the change in companies involved in transportation was that a government agency feared corruption could take place if the companies receiving the telephone calls for transportation were also the ones doing the transporting. So a couple of other companies were hired to take the calls and coordinate with those doing the transportation. I just can’t shake the thought that something smells like political connections in this endeavor. I guess some in government haven’t figured out that if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

This is the state that presently has a looming budget shortfall of something around $40 million, which state legislators more than likely will rip out of our wallets. I just received a letter from the Maine Heritage Policy Center that asked the question of what $7.8 billion could buy. That $7.8 billion was last year’s Maine budget of which $2.9 billion was for welfare, $2.4 billion for Medicaid, $720 million for state payroll and $566 million for the state pensions (all of these figures came from MHPC). They also report that the Maine Department of Labor overpaid jobless claims by $100 million so I have to ask, does cutting $40 million from the state budget really seem that difficult when it is such a small part of the state budget? I make the suggestion that the size and scope of Maine government, along with the federal government as well, be reduced annually for the next decade and even longer if necessary because it is obvious no elected official can see the forest through the trees.

Since I mentioned our government in Washington, D.C., I wonder if any small businesses in Maine have received their honesty questionnaire from the Internal Revenue Service. Yes, that federal agency that seeks to deprive us of every dollar we earn is now going to scare the pants (and wallets) off of America’s backbone of employment, small businesses by sending them letters asking them if their tax returns are truthful. Boy, even I couldn’t make this one up. Please remember that someday the very same agency could be in charge of your medical care so you might go in front of a death squad for tax evasion or even more amazingly, just because you become old. Why do I have the strangest feeling that the next thing the government will track is every dollar by serial number to see who isn’t reporting income?

Then there’s the little black boxes that the government undoubtedly will require in every vehicle. Those little black boxes could also be equipped with a GPS tracking device and then government not only knows how we drive but where we go as well. It will be coming to your neighborhood soon.

This is the country that could face the onslaught of thousands of Mexicans applying for political asylum because of the drug wars happening in Mexico. This could open the floodgates for millions of others to come as well at our expense.

Lane Hiltunen, of Windham, believes government is the largest sinkhole in the universe.

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