Why Are There Any Intelligent Liberal Democrats?

Today I was shopping with my daughters, observing and enjoying the bounty and selection of products in some of the larger American retail stores- Target and Costco, to be specific.

My younger daughter was looking for an iPod, and we went to the electronics section to view the various models. On the way there, we passed the youth clothing section. Spring clothes are already on display.

What caught my eye is how stylish and varied the selection of tops, skirts and pants was for young girls and boys of a pre-teen age. Back in the day, when I was young, things were much more basic, even at a mid-line department store. Youth clothing was rarely the province of fashion, let alone in a more mass-merchandised retail outlet, like Target.

As I surveyed the many lower- and middle-class shoppers in both stores filling carts with merchandise, I wondered, why would anyone would ever think government could create such spectacular advances in the provision of high-quality, broad selections of goods for the general American public?

Who do liberal Democrats think have wrought such economic miracles? Central planners in Washington, D.C.? The lifetime civil servants over at Commerce, Labor, or the FTC?

Congress didn't create jobs. Neither did any President. The best they can do is set stable, dependable rules for treatment of capital and income, as well as Federal spending and taxation, then get out of the way.

Companies like Target, Costco, and many others like them will do the rest. They provide improved standards of living with their lower prices and wider assortment of products than were available even five years ago.

So why do I have liberal, intelligent, educated friends and acquaintances who vote for regulation-loving, income-leveling, tax-and-spend liberal Congressmen, Senators and Presidents? How is this possible?

What do these liberals think drives our economic prosperity and improvement in standards of living? Congressional witch hunts and higher taxes?

Truly, this mystifies me. I will never forget watching an interview with George McGovern sometime in the 1980s or 1990s, post-Reagan. He had attempted to run a bed and breakfast after retiring from the Senate, but it had failed. George regaled the interviewer with tales of over-regulation and the high costs of compliance with various local, state and Federal authorities. It was touching to see him admit, on camera, that, while a Senator, he had no idea of the awful, stifling impact on economic activity many of the bills for which he voted actually had.

One liberal possibly converted, a few hundred million more to go.....