For the first hundred-and-fifty-odd years of the United States’ existence, it was a land of rugged individuals. The nation was founded on the idea that “that government is best that governs least,” and self-reliance and self-respect were the defining characteristics of Americans.

But over the last eighty years or so Americans have been progressively allowing the government to play a bigger and bigger role in their lives. With the passage of Obamacare in 2010, Americans have granted to the national government the power to control their access to health care. If the Democrats’ various “Cap and Trade” proposals are ever put into effect, we will have given the government the power to control our access to the fuel that makes our modern lifestyle possible.

But even more frightening than the government’s assumption of these new legal powers is its assumption of a leading role in changing the values and beliefs of ordinary Americans.

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