Free Republic

There is no evidence that Barack Obama willfully precipitated the Nashville floods, but almost all of the other gloomy, intractable quagmires that feed the country's pessimism are of his creation. But unlike crises of past administrations that seemed to get resolved in some fashion, his simply fester. Every day we read the same headlines, except that the crises deepen, become more insoluble, and grow less amenable to the standard cures of government policy. Even with a corrupt, compliant liberal media in the role of constant Obama booster, 62% of the country senses we are headed in the wrong direction. The...

Enemies of limited government are an energetic, persistent bunch, and one of their most effective strategies to aggrandize state power is what I call "gapism." Here's how it works. Begin by uncovering some "gap" between haves and have-nots. Contemporary examples include differences in health care quality, life expectancy, educational attainment, home ownership, obesity, internet access, credit card fees, fresh produce in supermarkets, superior day care, salt and trans fat consumption, university faculty appointments, visits to national parks, corporate salaries, illegitimacy, home libraries, high school dropout rates, stock ownership, and countless other conditions. These discrepancies automatically become "a troubling problem." That...