Doug:

Government heavily regulates or is heavily involved in all those industries related to the major cost items of a family budget. Those being:

Housing
Food
Health Care
Energy
Insurance
Schooling

and of course taxes.

These costs of Housing, Food, Health Care, Energy, Insurance and
Schooling have all increased at rates far in excess of that of household income for many years. That is why the middle class is in trouble. Republicans have been very slow to respond to the point of denying that there is even a problem. Major Republicans pundits like Rush, Michael Medved and others don’t even want to talk about increased costs of living for families.

In particularly urban areas and blue states, controlled largely by the public employee unions, the trial lawyers and the environmentalists, backed by the academics and the foundations, state and local governments have gone literally berserk, in too many ways too mention, micromanaging to the smallest detail, increasing liability, discouraging competition, punishing entrepreneurship, and generally pushing a socialist no growth agenda. The tentacles of leftist controlled government power go very deep and wide, with several generations of monkey wrenchers entrenched throughout the bureaucracy and judiciary.

It is a very serious threat to our economy and our liberties. Yet, one sees very little opposition to this slow socialist takeover.