How Statists Are Getting Away with It

Conservatives often warn that the sky will fall if the next piece of liberal legislation becomes law.  Liberals retort that conservatives are always warning about an Armageddon that never shows up.
Two general arguments of liberals go something like this.

• You conservatives told us the New Deal, Social Security, Medicare, etc. were all "socialist" programs. But we've done quite well after implementing them. Since the end of laissez-faire capitalism and the advent of "big government," we've done great as a country. We are vastly wealthier and healthier by every measure. We put men on the moon and have an interstate highway system!
• You conservatives warn us about socialized medicine, big government, and "socialism," yet Europe and the developed world have those things, and they're doing pretty well. Heck, look at Sweden; it's had better growth than the U.S. in recent years.

Yet conservatives continue to argue that big government smothers freedom and growth.  Liberals and conservatives can't both be right, can they?
Actually, they both are right.  Government does smother growth, for example.  But it does so slowly and incrementally, making it difficult for the average person to notice from day to day or year to year.  Armageddon never comes.  We don't go over some "cliff."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/07/how_statists_are_getting_away_with_it.html#ixzz1zjzdmUhD