Bowing down before idols

I don't care if New York Times columnist David Brooks is a liberal in conservative's bobo garb, a true but undoctrinaire conservative or just a guy who has fun irritating liberals and conservatives.

I like the man.

His column in today's paper, The God that Fails has been rattling around my brain all day.

Once we had an adult's expectation of what government could do for Americans. But recently, uh, we've regressed:

"Now we seem to expect perfection from government and then throw temper tantrums when it is not achieved. We seem to be in the position of young adolescents — who believe mommy and daddy can take care of everything, and then grow angry and cynical when it becomes clear they can't."

I find this to be very true of both small government conservatives and big government liberals.

Let me keep my tax money -- but give me total national security, demand some on the right. Oh, and a total ban on abortion while we're at it. And don't draft me.

After that guy tried to blow up the plane, I wanted to nab some government flac and ask him or her: Is this why we have the Department of Homeland (In) Security?

Meanwhile, some liberals want the bureaucrats to be in the rescue business...even when some institutions and even some individuals need to take responsibility for their own fate. What's a few billions in pork if a few good people get aid. Don't draft me, neither.

Perhaps most nations are run by the entitled. But if there is indeed a nanny state, we may be getting not solely the nation we asked for, but the bureaucracy we deserve.