Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek nails it. I was young, a borderline socialist, certainly a wannabe elitist interventionist. And then I realized that giving more power to politicians and their appointees not only could but would lead to implementation of policies I abhor. I began to back off my more interventionist views. But Boudreaux says it all so well:
Indeed, much of politics seems like a battle between opponents vying for the right to control other people. But there is more there; the above is just an excerpt. Here is his conclusion:If you are a modern “Progressive” and cannot abide the notion of conservatives, Christian or otherwise, having a say in who you sleep with and who you may marry, when and why you may get an abortion, what sorts of scientific research and artistic projects should be funded, what school curricula should and shouldn’t include, or when and why Uncle Sam goes on world-policing ventures, then why do you wish to expand the scope of government authority? Doing so in a society with a wide franchise, such as the U.S., inevitably invites those rubes to intrude their antediluvian superstitions and dogmas onto you and onto all that you hold dear and sacred.
The more expansive is the scope of government authority, the more my life is subject to commands issued in part under the influence of people who read Us magazine.Read the whole thing. It's not all that long.
Scary.