Even a cursory look at history shows that governments have oppressed and destroyed people far more than even the worst businesses ever have.

And religious governments worst of all. Yet what is our present leadership attempting to foster?

I have yet to see a corporation running a gulag.

No, you haven't seen it. And why? Because leaders with socialist leanings had intervened before either of us was born to eliminate the union-busting, private-police-force-commanding, company-town-running Capitalism Gone Wild of the late 19th century. How did they manage to do that? The people let them, and in fact encouraged it.

Suitable levels of abuse will produce a reaction in this country. Part of what happened during the Republican Reaction was a balancing out of too much left, for too long. I wouldn't hold my breath for the return of Andrew Jackson, though.

Frankly, I have no fears at all of so-called "corporate America."

You fear all in one place. Any entity that becomes too powerful is worth fearing, and worth opposing, unless you prefer one type of tyranny over another. As some people do.

Bill Gates has no power at all over me compared to the lowliest local zoning bureaucrat.

Ah! Four interesting things here.

First: Bill Gates is showing himself to be a man of conscience in the distribution of his wealth, admirable, but not without power. He controls a very influential corporation that controls a lot of information technology. He has plenty of power over lots of people, including you. He chooses whether and how to exercise it. Don't forget that. Powerful people come in as many varieties as ordinary people.

Second: Only the very naive believe that business is separate from politics. Businessmen have been buying influence ever since the first Assyrian priests started drawing little symbols of sheep to assess taxable assets.

Third: My grandfather, the other one, the city comptroller, used to say (especially with a few beers in him) "There is no community outside of the municipality." What he meant was, local politics is the only politics that is directly responsive to the people it serves, because voters know their local politicians personally, more or less, if they want to. But here you are, starting out railing against the large Federal octopus, and now your view has shrunk to include a guy you can actually confront in your own community, someone who (if you want to work at it) can be made to respond to your community's needs personally or be fired by the community. I see that you prefer not small government to large government, but a privately-owned octopus to a publicly-owned one. In other words, you trust a bunch of rich and powerful strangers to appreciate your interests and safety more than you trust your own neighbors, your fellow voters, the co-owners of your municipality. Maybe you need to talk to them some more.

Fourth: [grin] This isn't the first time you've mentioned "the lowliest local zoning bureaucrat". What did he do to you?