The key is to have a government that is efficient and trusted. Size is not so important as efficiency. Reagan slashed the number of IRS employees,and auditing declined, along with tax collections. It took very little time to figure out how to successfully lie yourself into a lower tax bracket and not get caught at it. If you were paid a salary and deductions were made from your check, you were largely sh*t out of luck. If you had your own business and got paid in cash, you were in the clover.
The absolute size is important , it is a matter of inertia.
The Titanic had lookouts who saw the ice before they hit it , but the Titanic was not only the largest and fastest ship that had ever been constructed , it was also the least nimble ship that had ever been constructed.
The absolute number of rules , laws and regulations is another important point , there are already enough that even specialists cannot know the entire rulebook of their specialty, sub specialties require sub specialist ,experts and coordination between them.
I cannot memorize the rules that apply directly to me , I rely on help to remain in compliance . My supervisor , my union steward , our quality and safety inspectors work to keep me in the right PPE that OSHA requires , using the chemicals as the EPA requires , using procedures as the FAA requires , etc etc...
A lot of this is needed , but there is no measurement of how much more than we need that we get.
Aircraft flew just fine twenty years ago with half as many rules , in twenty more years ,when the rules have doubled again, perhaps they won't fly.
