That Republican politicians will grab the loot and buy votes with it as readily as Democrats while making loud noises about balanced budgets and smaller government?

As if the Bush/Republican years weren't enough proof of that on their own?

Here's almost the same damn article, from that left-wing rag the Washington Times. Be interesting to see which came first.

We have a systemic problem. The answer Obama and the Democrats are providing is an all-powerful centralized government based on socialist ideas. The answer that way too many Republicans are providing is "huh?" Or "shove that trough over here a bit."

The hard truth is that the modern electoral system (along with the vast powers accumulated to the Federal government by past court decisions and other precedents) select our leadership for statism and wealth redistribution. Any politician, of ANY party, that shoves away Federal cash will find himself out of a job in the next election.

Are you familiar with the economic concept "tragedy of the commons?" It applies to the Federal Treasury, too.

I wish I had an answer. When I was much younger, a lot of my enthusiasm for colonizing space came from the dead certainty that all nations come to a point where the only solution left is to pack your stuff and head for the freer places. Unfortunately, America used to be that frontier. I've gone as far West as I can without dropping into the Pacific, and California is one of the worst of the lot right now.