:Big Government

果たして、大きな政府を心理的に支持し続けることは可能なのかどうか、アダム・スミスやスターウォーズ最新作を引き合いにだし、John Tierneyはその有効性と限界を論じている。

狩猟採集民的な小規模なClanではなくなった現代社会においては、そうした人々の共同体への憧れを政治的に搾取することが関の山となるのではないか、そう彼は論じる。

We want everyone to be bound together with a shared set of values, a yearning that Daniel Klein, an economist, dubs the People's Romance in the summer issue of The Independent Review.

The People's Romance is his explanation for why so many Americans have come to love bigger government over the past century. Their specific objectives in Washington differed - liberals stressed charity and social programs for all, while conservatives promoted patriotism and spending on national security - but they both expanded the government in their quest for a national sense of shared purpose. [...] Tocqueville recognized the inherent problem with the People's Romance when he described citizens' contradictory impulses to be free while also wanting a government that is "unitary, protective and all-powerful." (May 21, 2005
Darth Vader's Family Values, By JOHN TIERNEY )