tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show
What's the deal with this? Who is "government-expanding"? What do they think Bush is doing? Government spending, power, and influence (the federal government, not the states) are going up, up, up. Skyrocketing.
If there are any trends going against an expanding federal government, it is those that cede influence, power, and control to Big Business, i.e. corporations, which aren't accountable to citizens by elections in any sense, and thus can't be seen as a positive development, since we are democratic citizens before we are global consumers.
My position will be criticized as "business bashing", but so be it - engage in mischaracterization and name calling, and then prove the accusation with sound argument. Rail on about bashing business all you want, just keep in mind that I'm a champion of free markets and information (but only the two together), and the issue is this - it's the largest companies that will be exerting the most influence on local communities and their planning boards, tax policies and land development, through sheer might and dollar-exacting influence on political processes.
How can this be seen as a good thing? By anyone but a very, very small minority of well-positioned corporate and federal stakeholders? Political and economic centralization of power is a danger to liberal democracy and market capitalism, but cleverly justifies its vision as furthering those very systems.
We need to puncture this illusion.
