I used to think it was too pat to be possible, but my skepticism is decreasing the more involved I get: If we listen, progressives will tell us exactly what they’re doing by accusing conservatives of doing the same.  Here’s a data point from James Taranto, citing leading leftist Robert Reich:

“An old friend who has been active in politics for more than 30 years tells me he’s giving up,” claims Robert Reich in a Puffington Host post: ” ‘I can’t stomach what’s going on in Washington anymore,’ he says. ‘The hell with all of them. I have better things to do with my life.’ ”

… “My friend is falling exactly into the trap that the extreme right wants all of us to fall into–such disgust and cynicism that we all give up on politics.” The “Tea Bag Republicans,” as the homophobic Reich calls them, “want to sow even greater cynicism about the capacity of government to do much of anything.”

That statement should look very, very familiar to folks in the land of Rhode-apathy.  The difference is that Reich says that the Tea Party wants people to believe that government can’t do anything (which, let’s be honest, is a message that government furthers pretty well on its own), while the establishment wants people to believe that they simply cannot ever roll government back.

Witness top national Democrats declaring that even slowing the rate of growth of the federal government would be “catastrophic.”  Think of the resistance to any policy proposal that would help Rhode Islanders (like eliminating the sales tax) if it would make it at all harder for the state government to continue its proven-failure practices.