Infants

The problem with the article I'm going to cite is that everyone will think it's an article about the specific thing he wrote about. But it's not.

This statist impulse is a knee-jerk preference for deploying the force of the state (government) to achieve some benefit -- real or imagined, for one's self or others -- in place of voluntary alternatives such as persuasion, education or free choice. If people saw the options in such stark terms, or if they realized the slippery slope they're on when they endorse such interventions, support for resolving matters through force would likely diminish. The problem is, they frequently fail to equate intervention with force. But that is precisely what's involved. [...] Liberty is more often eaten away one small bite at a time than by one big gulp.

I tried this reasoning on some friends. Here's how some typical attitudes were expressed:

Delusion: "It's not really 'force' if a majority of citizens support it."

Paternalism: "Force was a positive thing because it was for your own good."

Dependency: "If government won't do it, who will?"

Myopia: "You're making a mountain out of a molehill. How can [...] possibly be a threat to liberty? If it is, it's so minor that it doesn't matter."

Impatience: "I don't want to wait until [...] [does] it on its own."

Power lust: "[...] that won't [...] have to be told to do it."

Self-absorption: "I just don't care. I hate [...] and I don't want to chance [...] even if [...] [comes up with his own solution]."

If there's one thing we must learn from the history of regimes, it is that if you give them an inch they eventually will take a mile. It's wiser to resist liberty's erosion in small things than to concede and hope that bigger battles can be avoided later.

Delusion, paternalism, dependency, myopia, impatience, power lust and self-absorption: All are vestiges of infantile thinking.

[Emphasis added]

Most or all describe, more or less, the approach to politics of just about everybody I know, democrat or republican, liberal or conservative. If, as our Christian friends tell us, mankind is naturally depraved, then everything you need to know about that depravity is contained in the above.

( Beck )