Faith in Government Is the Root of the Problem

So writes Paul Ibrahim:

Most Americans are raised by the government. They are usually raised for more than 12 years in public schools that they are forced to pay for, and, for the financially restricted, forced to attend. Even if they are lucky enough to have a choice in education, they grow up bombarded by pervasive laws -- and not just the necessary types that regulate traffic and criminal activity, but the types that ban certain "unhealthy" cooking, prohibit smoking on private property and order the use of helmets and seatbelts.

It is therefore not surprising that many -- too many -- Americans reach adulthood with a built-in, assumed, inherent faith in a notional all-knowing and compassionate government. For these Americans, questioning the role of government in certain areas is very much like questioning the essence of life itself. ...

... Too many Americans have grown up believing that it is the government’s job to play a big activist role in society and in the economy. This ideology is more or less dependent on the (false) assumption that government is an inherently good institution filled with inherently good people who wake up everyday wondering how they can act to improve a constituent’s life.