My local government is really transparent about the budget, where it's going. They've been running really lean since the great recession. It's really interesting to see how they spend money. There are couple programs I question, but for the most part they do an excellent job. I will say sometimes a few years after these programs are implemented I'm generally a fan.

I understand the drive to make government more efficient, run better, but I'm not sure if that's the goal of the current conservative movement. At least here in Michigan the state government under republican control has caused all sorts of issues, like the Flint water crisis.