If Democrats hope to tamp down the anger Clinton perceives in public discourse, they have an odd strategy -- that of enlarging government, and government costs, and government regulation, rather than diminishing those factors in the lives of the people.
There's a geometric/mathematical dimension to this business. The heftier government grows, the more people it affects and touches; the more such people who feel the touch of government, the larger the chances grow for offense and resentment and anger.
A government the size of Calvin Coolidge's, or even Dwight Eisenhower's -- you couldn't get unduly furious over its pastimes. There weren't enough pastimes. The government let you alone, comparatively speaking. A government -- ours, say -- about to start sopping up in taxes a quarter of the national wealth, yet unable to figure out how to pay for all its programs, is a government that it's all but compulsory to dislike.
The point escapes most in the White House and in the Democratic leadership. They want a bigger government still -- one that decides what kind of energy we use, and what size autos we drive, and what kinds of medical services best fulfill public needs. All this with nearly 10 percent of American workers still unemployed.
Tracked: Apr 21, 20:03