John Stossel Looks Back on Liberty in 2013
This wasn't a great year for liberty. A few of the bigger disasters that government caused were Obamacare, the government shutdown, and covering up the NSA's spying on citizens. Obamacare was supposed to "bend the cost curve" downward. The central planners had lots of time to perfect their scheme. For a generation, the brightest left-wing wonks focused on health care policy. The result? Soviet-style consumer service comes to America. The real disaster of the government shutdown was the unnecessary panic over it. Zoos would shut down, and baby pandas would starve. The media made it sound like America might not survive even slightly limited government. They were happy to echo the politicians' claim that there's no wasteful or stupid spending to cut. "The cupboard is bare," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "There's no more cuts to make." Nothing to cut? Government spends $3.8 trillion a year! John Stossel says that to make next year better, we must stop trusting such a powerful government to restrain itself. We should cut back its duties to reduce its power.