Tipping Point

I am truly worried about the economy. I hope I'm wrong, but I think things are about to get very, very bad. The thing that scares me even more than a depression is how most people will react to one. A bad economy is just as certain as war is in expanding the size and scope of government.

What kind of intervention will people demand? What will pandering, vote buying politicians promise to obtain power and to stay in power? We've already gotten a taste of things to come... "free money" stimulus checks from the government, bailouts for homeowners who got in over their heads with too much McMansion, and corporate welfare for Bear Stearns. The concept of moral hazard has been tossed out the ARM mortgaged window.

Perhaps not now or even in the near future, but one day a sizeable minority of people are going to say enough is enough. The nanny state reigns supreme and most people like it that way. But there are people who love freedom. There are people who believe the federal government is too powerful and out of control. There are people who have read the Constitution and the radical writings of the founding fathers and other liberal thinkers. When are people going to demand their freedom back? What will be the tipping point?