Today’s posts seem to have a theme, so far, so we might as well keep it going with Jeff Carter’s suggestion that “America Is Close to Losing Its Freedom” (via Instapundit):

We are in danger of losing our republic.  America is on the brink of becoming something else, a regulatory state.

Regulatory states don’t pay attention to the rule of laws.  The law bends, dances, jumps and moves whatever way the regulator wants it to move.  This is not an isolated instance.  It’s happening in almost every vertical business silo.

Yesterday I was talking with a medical startup.  They told me that doctors were sick of the consolidation that has been happening and accelerating in the medical industry.  Doctors are being treated as commodities. I responded that this is repeating itself in every American industry.

So, if you choose to stay in a state that seems more focused on inside deals that taxpayers can’t afford and decide to attempt to make the grueling transition from dependence to self-sufficiency in the modern welfare state, you’re likely to face a cliff of regulations that make it more difficult to get rolling, that act as a defensive wall for those who are already established, and that give government a long arm into all of your affairs.

This is the progressive central planning utopia.  Even if you’re able to shake your welfare-state shackles, the planners want you dependent on a big business for your livelihood.  That way, they can work and negotiate with the poohbahs of big business, with all of our livelihoods as the chips.