Comments Posted By SteveinCH
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ANGRY IDEOLOGUES vs. THE STATISTS
I personally think you underestimate the number of people in Washington who believe the world would be a better place if their judgments prevailed over the judgments of state and local governments or individual citizens. A substantial portion of the action that goes on in Washington is about substituting Washington's judgment of what should be for someone elses.
My own view is that this is rampant in Washington and is one potential definition of statism, that is, using the state to create outcomes that one wants. When those outcomes relate to the state's role in the World, there is no true alternative. When it relates to state control over things that do not concern the state per se, they can be seen as statist.
That said, I prefer the term Federalist since this is a disease first and foremost of our (limited) Federal government. It is a disease that affects both parties, although, like many here, I believe it affects democrats a bit more and the current administration quite substantially.
The test of freedom is to support a person's right to do something that you would not do in their place. The statist believes in using the state to take away that right. The statists are rampant in our society today and we little realize it because we have few comparisons. Most governments today are more controlling than ours and our history is one of government control for more than the living memory of most who are now alive.
The examples are almost too numerous to contemplate but do a thought experiment someday. Just spend the first 90 minutes of your day thinking about the degree to which the state limits your choice in matters that affect nobody but you. My first 90 minutes consisted of reduce flow shower heads, low flow toilets, cars with airbags, taking my kids to a "private" school with mandated curriculum. We no longer see these things as statist because we consider them normal, but statist they are nevertheless.
Comment Posted By SteveinCH On 1.09.2009 @ 12:49
