More Feudalism

Which, as Jay Bookman points out, should not be confused with "conservatism." With "conservatism" and the "free market," the consumers chose where to spend their dollars, and the government provides the infrastructure necessary for markets to exist.

But we don't have that anymore (if we ever really had it). In our current feudal state, the government - often those run by the GOP - choses where to spend both tax dollars and consumer dollars. That way, the Lords and Ladies of well-connected industry are sure to recieve returns on their modest investments in the form of profits that are taxed less and less, regardless of how their ventures actually perform. They even benefit from consumers who never patronize their business.

Not to say that subsidies and tax breaks aren't sometimes necessary to encourage economic development, but things have gotten quite absurd.

The GOP is very lucky that most Democrats also appear to have confused the terms "conservative" and "free-market" with "feudalism" (those both for and against it). If that dynamic ever changed, the GOP would get blown out of the polls based on economic policy alone, because they no longer represent economic conservatism.

.