Anyone who has been involved in the limited government movement for any amount of time knows that battles are constantly being waged on all imaginable fronts.  In states that value limited government, fighting for the cause is kind of like a tug of war.  Sometimes one side wins, sometimes the other side wins, but usually the extremes are avoided and taxpayers benefit as a result.

In states with less value for limited government, on many issues the tug of war is one-sided.  It's all limited government advocates can do to stop those professing big government ideologies from taking the rope and locking it away.  Even when some resistance is offered in these states it is often overwhelmed by the amount of support on the other side.

In either kind of state (or locality) the principle of having a limited government presence is important and sometimes is all you need.  Case in point: Nashville is building a brand new convention center that will cost somewhere around $600 million to build.  Under normal circumstances, there would be a temptation for a local government to go beyond their estimates and place the difference in cost on the shoulders of taxpayers.  One problem though, the prominent Tennessee Tax Revolt, a taxpayer advocate group, is ready to pounce if and when the local government backtracks even an inch on their pledge not to burden taxpayers.

Having a presence, the threat of accountability is sometimes enough to make government officials, elected or otherwise, think twice about the decisions they make.  Often times extremes can be moderated and guaranteed every time the taxpayer will be better off than if no one had spoken up or intervened.  Generally speaking, the greater the limited government presence, the less tax burden there will be.  This is why states like Tennessee have one of the lowest state-local tax burdens, but states like Maine, New York and Hawaii have among the highest burdens.

Hopefully in the next 10 years American Majority can make an impact in both kind of states.