That truly is how things progress. The sad thing is that the folks that don’t see the progression are the same folks that are being hammerred with their own tools to get their agendas overridden. That is why I say they are more dangerous than the socialists, at least the socialists are honest about their intentions.
They also outnumber the socialists.
Very few people would consciously choose to chip away at property rights or the market system. Most don't even realize they are doing so when they sign on to appealing, pleasant-sounding policies that are actually rooted in socialism. And advancing socialism is what they usually end up doing.
It's happened in other areas before. What many people don't realize is that the Kelo decision didn't just pop out of the ether. It followed from a series of earlier decisions that had been gradually chipping away at property rights and expanding the government's eminent domain powers. Some of those earlier cases didn't seem all that offensive at the time and didn't get nearly as much attention. But the end result was the monstrosity known as Kelo.
People might scoff at the idea of the hyper-regulated restaurant you and I joke about. And who knows, maybe it will never come to pass. But the principles behind it are already being accepted by the public.
And you know, if you went back 50 or 100 years ago, I bet most people would scoff at the idea of the government seizing property from a citizen and giving it to a private business. But we know better.