Thom Hartmann: 'Is the Era of Big Government Over & The Era of Hostage Taking here?'

Source:Russia Today- Thom Hartmann talking about big government and the Tea Party.

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From Wikipedia 

"Since President Obama gave in to the demands of Republican hostage takers during the debt-limit debate - Republicans will use the same, "give us what we want or we'll pull the trigger" tactic over and over and over again." 

From Russia Today

Is the era of Big Government over? And what I mean by that is not just socialist big government (that Thom Hartmann prays for and makes love to every day and night) but authoritarian big government with limited personal freedom. Well, thanks to President Ronald Reagan whether you think this is a good or not, the era of socialist big government never had a chance to come to existence in America. Socialists best shot at bringing socialism to America, was with Senator George McGovern in 1972. (Read up on you history if you're not familiar with McGovernism) 

It's hard to imagine how socialism makes a comeback in America. What we have when it comes to social insurance, is what we have and if anything those programs will be reformed to make more cost-effective and hopefully more efficient and if anything competition will added to them. And there called social insurance programs for a reason: they are there for people who fall on hard times economically, they are not designed to take care of people indefinitely and babysit grownups.

So when President Bill Clinton said back in the 1996 State of the Union Address that: "The era of Big Government is over" he was stating a fact, but that statement was about fifteen years late. It was a statement from Captain Obvious, but 15 years later. Bill Clinton did not run for President to expand big government in America to begin with and did not set out to expand it either. Even though the era of big government socialism is over (even though it really never got started in America) and as a Liberal I see that as a good thing. 

The era of big government authoritarianism from the Far-Right is alive and well, with the Far-Right pushing legislation to make collective bargaining harder or impossible. The Far-Right pushing anti- pornography laws, anti-gay marriage laws. Laws that would actually make adultery illegal. Anti- gambling laws, marijuana is still illegal in America. The Patriot Act that I believe violates the Fourth Amendment with government being able to search what people read just because they might seem suspicious to them. Or being able to search people without search warrants. 

With the rise of the Christian-Right thirty plus years ago pushing their "Moral Agenda" on what they believe all Americans should be like and with the rise of neoconservatism ten years ago, believing national security is more important then constitutional rights, the era of Big Government is alive and well in America but in a different form.  One thing that Liberals, Libertarians, and Conservative-Libertarians all agree on.