As the reach of government has grown ever larger, it's ability to have huge effects, both positive and negative on peoples lives has grown exponentially. Worse, government must be adminstered by HUMANS who are absolutely as capable of being self centered, tribal, greedy, vindictive, etc as anyone else -- and possibly more, since their work and personal lives are lived in massive beauracracies located in cities that are the seats of political power, thus very aware of the side in the "more or less government" debate.
As the article states ...
Officials can be vindictive creatures, eager to use the power of the state to penalize those whose lifestyles, economic activity, and political affiliations they dislike. Tax power was long ago turned to such misuse, probably because tax collectors had authority to intrude into people's lives before other government employees gained such clout. "My father may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution," Elliott Roosevelt observed of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Obama used "The Chicago Way" ... "reward your friends, punish your enemies". This is ALWAYS one of the ways that people in power will operate -- and the more power we give them, the more it is worth fighting, up to and including violence to get "your side" in power!
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