Barone on Big Govt, Big Labor, and Big Business

Michael Barone at TownHall.com, picking up on an important point-- and over-looked by partisans of the two major political parties...

In a democracy, collusion between Big Govt-- and Big Labor and Big Business-- is entirely predictable...and often, regrettable. People seem to have diminishing faith in all three.

Scads of liberals gleefully predicted that the financial crisis and deep recession would destroy Americans' faith in markets and increase their confidence in big government....If anything, public opinion has moved in the other direction...

How to explain this? One way is to see the public's reaction as opposition to governance by an alliance of Big Units -- Big Government, Big Business and Big Labor....

Around 1970, these Big Units lost their edge. Big Government got mired in wars on poverty and in Vietnam. Big Business got hidebound and bureaucratic. Big Labor started to shrink...

The Obama Democrats, faced with a grave economic crisis, responded with policies appropriate to the Big Unit America that was disappearing during the president's childhood.

Their financial policy has been to freeze the big banks into place. Their industrial policy was to preserve as much as they could of General Motors and Chrysler for the benefit of the United Auto Workers. Their health care policy was designed to benefit Big Pharma and other big players...Their macroeconomic policy was to increase the size and scope of existing government agencies...

What we see is Big Government colluding with Big Business and trying to breathe life into Big Labor....

The visibly flagging economy and the slapdash stimulus and health care bills have left most voters ready to take a chance on the still reviled Republicans. The unanswered question is, will the Republicans have an effective alternative to Big Unit governance?