I suspect the way many viewers reacted to this week's Democratic presidential debate co-sponsored by CNN and YouTube depended on whether they generally see themselves on the taking or giving end of government transactions.
For those accustomed to taking from government, it was a tremendous night. For those accustomed to giving to government, it foreshadowed the nightmare to come if a Democrat is elected president.
During the debate, various candidates suggested increasing government by mandating universal health care coverage, health care coverage for illegal aliens, a massive increase in the minimum wage, a minimum salary for school teachers, more spending on public schools generally, cars that get 50 miles per gallon and even reparations for slavery.
They also suggested increasing government revenue by imposing a carbon tax on the U.S. economy, increasing taxes on oil companies, increasing the amount of personal income subject to the Social Security tax, increasing the tax rates on the top 1 percent of earners and increasing taxes for virtually everybody by terminating the Bush tax cuts.
An early defining moment came when former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, who became a multimillionaire by suing doctors, tried to establish his credentials as Taker in Chief, the Democrat most likely to use government to confiscate things from people.
"I think the people who are powerful in Washington -- big insurance companies, big drug companies, big oil companies -- they are not going to negotiate," said Edwards. "They are not going to give away their power. The only way that they are going to give away their power is if we take it away from them."
The "we" here, of course, is government. The "them" are the people who own insurance, drug and oil companies. That means stockholders. Edwards, in other words, wants to increase the power of government by diminishing the power of the many millions of citizens scattered all across America who are diligently saving and investing what they can today in the stock market so they won't have to depend on the government and Social Security tomorrow.
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