As conservatives and Republicans we often talk about the need to make the case for limited government. It turns out, making the case for limited government can be tougher than you would think.
Case in point, my participation in last month's Sartell Says debate on municipal swimming pools. Sartell is a suburb of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and the "Sartell Says" series is an Oxford Union-style chamber debate, where the audience votes before and after the event.
Last month I was on the "con" side of this question,
Outdoor public pools are a valuable and necessary function of a city?
You can hear the results yourself, as Minnesota Public Radio has archived a podcast of the event, which the station broadcast last Friday as part of the MPR News Presents program. [Yes, despite their best efforts, every once in a while, my voice sneaks onto their station.]
The "pro" side argued that taxpayer-funded outdoor swimming pools would cure every societal ailment from childhood obesity to income inequality. When offered "free swimming pool," the Sartell audience was in no mood to hear about escalating operating costs and slippery slopes.
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