Even NPR is saying it...

If I'm listening to the radio, it's most likely NPR. They are great at producing quality, creative journalism and feature stories. Being an avid listener, I'm no stranger to their left leaning tendencies. That's why I was surprised to hear economist, Susan Lee present a story on Market Place yesterday, Oct 7, promoting laizzes faire government.

It's fascinating that most economists (and in relationship to the 700B dollar bailout - most Americans) are for smaller government, yet our Senators and Congressmen vote their own way in these issues. What's even more fascinating is that politicians like Obama even have a viable voice on the national stage.

The problem is, most people are libertarians until socialism entices them toward greed... evidenced in the lure of "free" healthcare. Most Americans aren't willing to give of their money voluntarily (Joe Biden, for example, who has given around $300 on average to charity in the last 10 years despite making more than $300,000), but are fine voting for policies that take money from someone else and redistributes to their pocket. Americans aren't upset that corporations are "greedy." Americans are upset they aren't CEOs of large corporations.

Now, back to that NPR piece... Both the transcript and the audio segment can be found here:
http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/07/libertarian/

Ha! I just pasted the link and noticed that the last word is "libertarian." I knew there was a reason I wanted to seek this segment out after hearing it on the radio.

I can only hope that Lee's statement that laizzes faire government has come to an end is false, but this would take an awakening in our country that might not be possible. A country of fat, tv watching, video-game playing, quick-fix sleepers might never awaken from their lethargy. I don't know how loudly I can shout or how seductively I can whisper.