In this Investor’s Business Daily op-ed Ernest Christian and Gary Robbins say that “Americans are again yearning to be free — this time from their own government.” They go on to argue for a major downsizing of government.
The problem is that I’m afraid that the “leave us alone” coalition is not big enough to bring about this new American revolution. In fact, I doubt that it’s big enough even to fight a holding action to protect what’s left of freedom in this country. Ask the average person if freedom is a good thing and you’ll get a cheery “Of course!” But then ask about a range of specific issues and you’ll get answers favoring government coercion. “Freedom is good, but government has to make sure workers are paid decent wages.” “Freedom is good, but government has to make sure everyone has health insurance.” You could fill up many pages with statements like that.
The root of the problem is that a large majority of Americans have been bamboozled into believing that freedom doesn’t work very well and therefore we need to have an expansive state to fix all its deficiencies. They’ve been taught to fear liberty and scurry to the supposed security and fairness of our vast government. It’s an enormously successful con job.
