Ambition of central planners
I must admit, that despite being a libertarian, then I cannot help it but to admire those who preach big government with a great, central authority over almost every aspect of every individuals' life. I cannot imagine a more ambitions program than the program of central planning over society, be it via law and regulation, or direct force and coercion. A project doomed to fail, whether judged from reason or experience, but an ambitious one indeed!
The two groups of individuals
For me, people more or less divide into two groups (with a big gray area in between): Those who want the central government to thrive, and those who want individuals to thrive. What benefits one cause, damages the other. Its as simple as that.
Role of government, anybody?
Most people vote, or have an opinion on who should be voted, and who should not be. Depending on the choice of vote, most of us tend to categorize ourselves according to some party lines, willingly or not. For example, lets say I could vote in the USA, and voted for Republicans. Many would then call me a Republican, and hence assume I am for the war in Iraq, against homosexual marriages, for fiscal discipline in government finances, Christian, and so on. So those who vote Republican who started out voting because of one but not all of the issues will probably tend to agree with the other ones, and converge towards the "one and only" Republican party line.
But what if people did not know what the options were before going to the polls? That before voting, everyone had to draw up an independent picture of what he or she thinks the role of government, and its politicians, should be. How many of Obama votes would have then found themselves compatible with Obamas rhetoric when walking into the poll booth? Or John McCain's? Or Al Gore's? Because all of these gentlemen have preached to some extent, and then practiced in great extent, the consumption of the entire society by the State.
It seems that few people have actually sat down and thought for themselves what the government should do, and what it should refrain from doing. Does the State monopolize money because most people want to, or because no-one can think outside the box, or remember a 100 years back when no such entity as the Federal Reserve Fund existed?
I guess not
