The Picture of Dorian Gray

How dreadful!" cried Lord Henry.
"I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable.
There is something unfair about its use.
It is hitting below the intellect."
--The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
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Well, it seems we have come to the apotheosis of Mr. Bush's ownership society in the government's takeover of the banks (Bailout Becomes Buy-In as Feds Move Into Banking.)

Just as likely, we ain't seen nothin' yet. It is odd to have a group called the republicans who claim to champion small government acting so blatantly against their stated position (Signaling a Shift to Europe's Path.) FOX news economists reassure their legions that Paulson and Bernanke are free market economists, yet they fully support the bailouts and nationalizations. Either one is or it isn't; one can't be both.

How can the small government republicans, responsible for the largest budget deficits and largest expansions of government via the Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) and the recent bailouts, still say with a straight face they support limited government and will slash our taxes? How can they look at themselves in the mirror each morning?

All of this is saying, "Vote democrat." The question is, "Why is that?" There is no division between the democrats and the republicans, other than their rhetoric, and their words are lies. And the lie is, we are still a democracy.

While most see this latest move as socialism, economist blogger Dark Wraith says it has moved beyond that, into "definitional 'fascism': the fusion of corporate and state sovereignty into a governing coalition."

It all feels like the people are being given a bum rush to judgment.