I would prefer a more powerful local city and state government and a far weaker federal government. Having my pols closer means there's a neck to wring if need be.

A little nit: Republicans and George W. Bush? They're either irrelevant and/or gone for years. You need to update your hate list; your being outside the states is no excuse for ignorance. The current demons are "tea-baggers" and "Ted Cruz".

> I would prefer a more powerful local city and state government and a far weaker federal government.

Exactly right. Some people don't seem to want to understand the genius in that simple idea. Not sure why.

The Obamacare mess is the most visible example of what is wrong with government at nearly every level. Of course I am going to use it. This is the best example we have and one that nearly every American now understands or most certainly will within the next year. Nobody is saying that a better approach to healthcare isn't necessary. The ACA is NOT a better approach.

This has nothing to do with a right wing agenda. Call it a moderate libertarian agenda if you want to be closer to reality. Both major parties have blood on their hands, it's just different for each group. It just so happens that we've wasted five valuable years chasing after a somewhat extreme left-wing agenda...and here we are. We are walking into national debt that will exceed twenty trillion dollars and, if economic damage wasn't enough we are undermining our tech industry in ways that could shift technology out of the US in so many ways it is hard to imagine.

OK, call me a moron and a zealot. Please explain a few things to me then:

First, if over twenty trillion dollars in national debt isn't a problem, how much would be? Is there a limit or we get to go like this forever with no consequences whatsoever?

Once you explain that, please elaborate on what could happen to our tech industry if the world turns against us for such things as the brutal intrusion into everyone's lives by the NSA and other yet-to-be-identified players? Are there consequences to this if we change nothing? Ever?

Finally, we are continuing to see the disaster that the ACA/Obamacare is proving to be. The other day an article came out, I believe in Forbes, explaining how MILLIONS of Americans are --without realizing it-- assigning their property --their homes-- to the government when they sign up for the ACA and end-up going for Medicare. It is one thing to want healthcare for everyone. For reason's sake, let's do it right! This is nonsense. Can you please explain how the ACA is a good thing when premiums double --or worst--, deductibles skyrocket, access to doctors, facilities and drugs is limited and, on top of that, you might have signed your estate over to the state without even knowing it?

I don't know. I could be a moron. Still, I think the above issues stand on their own, having nothing to do with the messenger or the political alignment of anyone involved.

The fact is that the tech industry is under attack by our own government in more ways than one. Never mind me. Mind reality.

I think it's cool that you're passionate about this stuff, try boiling it down to the essentials though. With all the self-deprecation and laundry list of questions, you lost me.

When I saw alan_cx put criticisms of the huge US military alongside arguments for socialized healthcare, I detected possible weakness. I thought something like, "growing the government makes it grow!"

It's like there's this odd static thinking some statists exhibit - like "we can vastly increase the government's power, but only just in this one corner with health care." But that's willful ignorance, that's not how things work. When you get a big expansion, budgets and authority swell for the whole thing including in the nasty bits like military and intelligence and through data mining/sharing between agencies.

You won't make headway trying to out-wonk someone on the ACA who is so clearly sold on the idea of socialized medicine. On that issue, the guy is a belieber. :)

You are probably right. And yes, I am passionate about this stuff. When I was younger all I cared about was tech. I was utterly ignorant about everything else. Without knowing it I let media and tribal behavior dictate what I thought and who I voted for. As I got older and started to run into government at every corner as an entrepreneur I started to ask questions. I didn't like the answers.

Now I feel we are at an inflection point. There's a need to have some passion because our government has gone insane and seems to be on a mission to destroy us from the inside. No, this isn't some grand plan. They are too stupid for that. This is simply a natural side effect of what the political "species" does for survival. This is like bacteria "concerned" about maximizing their local results yet, if without resistance, will easily consume and kill the entire organism. The bacteria don't plan on killing the entire organism, it just happens. That's what our government is doing. If people would only pull back far enough to see it...

I have had the same thoughts about inflection points and political class doing whatever they need to do to stay in power and the like. It all sounds good, but I always had the feeling that failed to explain everything that's going on.

I have personally come to the conclusion that US politicians today are just limo drivers for the banksters and the business elites who get to dictate where the limo goes from the comfy (and safe) back seat.

I interpret messages from ultra rich/powerful types (like Mort Zuckerman) to mean that they have a worry about a race/class war against the rich that could wipe them out in a NY minute. It's a rational concern, things do seem to be slowly turning against the power elites.

If class riots truly are the big worry of the rich, then gov't entitlements aren't altruism or charity, they're gifts intended to placate the masses. Mass riot worries could also explain why local police departments are getting armored vehicles and military training from the feds. And it could explain why the IRS/surveillance state seems so preoccupied with weekend/holiday dissenters like those in the "tea party".

I don't have any answers for our social problems; I think we're screwed because of all the corruption. That doesn't stop me from questioning the motives of those that claim to have the answers.

Well, that is certainly a different twist in the plot.