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BlueOregon's Carla Axtman and the liberal-conservative divide

Recently, BlueOregon’s Carla Axtman took Oregon GOP Party Chair Bob Tiernan to task for saying that government should be run like a business:

Ummm...okay Bob. You guys have been telling us that you're "running the country
(state) like a business" for years. Our government isn't a business or any other
for-profit enterprise. Its a structure that's supposed to protect the rights of
the people. Y'know..that whole life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
thing.

I realize that there's going to be an ideological divide on
how to repair the mess we're in. But its going to be tough to get started if
only one of us (not you) understands the basic premise of government.

My take:
I think she entirely misses the point, and then arrogantly attacks Tiernan’s statement by accusing him of not understanding the basic premise of government. When a conservative says that a government should be run like a business, they mean that there should be some sense of accountability. A business is accountable in that if it doesn’t turn a profit, it fails (well, unless it’s a big bank, that is). Government, too often, finances its failure by simply borrowing more money. Also, because government has the power to tax, it can increase its revenue by simply taxing more – business can’t increase its available tax flow so easily – it has to actually do a better job of providing goods and services.

Conservatives (and even right-leaning moderates like me) think that government should be restrained in its reach...that it should be limited to those things that truly do promote liberty, rather than being expansive and all-encompasing.
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