<...Try to think beyond the box of that little Russian lady you so adore. If individuals do not exercise their powers conferred by their legitimacy, others will do so---such as coalitions of interest groups. I fear you have become so obsessed by hating government that you forget it is your government and it is the only public force available to you.

So, if I don't do the looting, someone else will? You may have a point, considering how the government of this country is currently organized. I have noticed that those who take every advantage of our government system of redistributing wealth are rewarded, while those who forego such programs to try and make it on their own are typically penalized, usually by being shoved into higher tax brackets.

BTW, that "little Russian lady" had some damn good points, and some good ways of phrasing things, like calling "robbery" and "looting" what they are instead of whitewashing them under leftist fog words like "social responsibility" and "sharing the wealth."

Our society-(sorry but I like that word for its inclusive quality) will succeed or fail based on the investments that it makes. Good physical infrastructure (roads, airports, water systems, sewage, internet, etc.) and good social infrastructure (public safety, educational opportunities, research and development) are necessary if economic progress is to occur.

The leftist creed is that none of these things would occur if they were not "forced" by those who are more "enlightened" than the rest of us. The only legitimate government function you have mentioned in this pork festival is "public safety." It would take a lot more space than I've got here to go over each supposedly "essential" function and show how the private sector could have done it better.

The hard facts are that if you look at almost ANY commodity that is cheap, and generally available to everyone regardless of wealth, it will be something that is provided by the private sector.

The free market always works. This is not a fantasy, this is observable facts. Where governments use force to prevent it from working, you begin to have problems.

The victory of the socialists in this nation is that they have convinced a majority of the electorate that their existence depends on someone sucking almost two trillion dollars out of the private sector, and giving it to bloated, butt-ignorant politicians, most of them trained only as lawyers, so they can pass it out as they see fit. Not too surprisingly, it tends to get passed out to those who will help them gain and keep power, with actually solving any problems being a distant second in priority.

The fact that I am apparently totally incapable of making intelligent people see exactly what is going on depresses me.

We owe it to ourselves and our posterity to give a better society to our children and we have a government form that allows this, if we can transend our petty, stingy, cheap grimeyness and move down to Whoville, Mr. Grinch.

Oh, come on. Again, my resentment about having a gun barrel jammed into my chest and my wallet emptied is repainted as "stinginess." Does anyone even buy this gag anymore?