Despite the “small government” rhetoric of the current administration, the budget deficit continues to grow and the size of government is exploding.

The largest growth area for the government workforce is new personnel hired through private companies and it has reached levels that our nation hasn’t seen since the Cold War. According to a new study by the Brookings Institution, federal contracts and grants now account for more than 8 million jobs, an increase of a million in just four years.

Some of the government growth occurred during the final year of the Clinton Administration, but most of the million plus jobs were added during the Bush administration.

The true size of government, which includes contract-related jobs, civil service, military and postal service, came to 12.1 million in late 2002, an increase of about 1 million since 1999. The size of the regular federal workforce has fallen, but only because nearly 1 million jobs were cut, mostly at the Department of Energy, NASA and the Department of Defense.

Contrary to popular wisdom, the report also found that the job growth has occurred over a wide range of agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration – not just homeland security or defense related jobs.

Here are some highlights of the report:

The real size of government is growing. Since 1999, the federal government has added 1.1 million jobs, and most of these jobs were grant related jobs.

Government is growing everywhere. The increase in contract and grant-generated employment has occurred in all areas except for NASA and the Department of Energy. The Department of Defense accounts for roughly 500,000 of the new contract and grant driven jobs, while other agencies contribute a small amount more. Defense Department growth is mainly through contracts.

Unlike some folks in this town, we are not anti-government zealots. However, anyone who believes in fiscal responsibility should be nervous and concerned about the growth of the total government workforce.

Remember, we are staring a $480 billion deficit squarely in the face, the largest ever in relative terms and more than 4% of the Gross Domestic Product. We are potentially facing the prospect of servicing a $9.1 trillion debt in 2013 and increasing costs of running the government will only make it more difficult to balance the budget and bring us back on the road of paying down the debt.

While the President has proposed solutions to some of the nation's biggest challenges, he has only paid lip service to addressing the federal deficit. Only a recipe of aggressively cutting spending and trimming the size of government will get our nation’s budget stabilized.

It has also not escaped our notice that most of the current Democratic candidates for President don’t sound much better. Rather than putting our nation on a fiscal diet, most of them are promising tens of billions of dollars in spending as they pucker up to the special interests.

Make no mistake about it, big government is back with a vengeance and it is sending us spiraling down the path of bigger and bigger budget deficits. The lesson with this story is that politicians will say anything to get your vote. They will talk a good game of fiscal responsibility, but when it comes to the financial rubber hitting the road, few have the guts to make the tough decisions.