Voters rarely get to choose the exact level of spending on a public good. Instead, they are provided with two options-a proposed spending level posed by the government and a default (or "reversion") level that would be enacted if the proposal were rejected by voters.
The Leviathan theory suggests that governments will intentionally select large proposed spending levels and default levels that are well below the desired level of spending. Why is this behavior consistent with a size-maximizing government?