https://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2012/01/25/annals-of-the-nanny-state-midwest-edition/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 08:58:45 -0400<![CDATA[In “Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents,” his brilliant anatomy of covert state despotism, Edmund Burke noted that “the forms of a free, and the ends of an arbitrary [i.e., despotic] Government” are not at all incompatible. You may well live in a country in which the law of the land states that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.” But it is the work of a moment for a despotic government to supersede that law in fact if not in name.]]>Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:29:43 -0500<![CDATA[Roger Kimball]]>https://pjmedia.com/roger-kimball/2012/01/25/annals-of-the-nanny-state-midwest-edition-n116740