Politics has taken over so much of life

Jerry Pournelle on Haley Barbour's bowing out of the race for President:

Gov. Barbour’s explanation for why he will not seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination — because a candidate today “is embracing a ten-year commitment to an all-consuming effort, to the virtual exclusion of all else,” and he cannot make such a commitment — is not only refreshingly candid but points to a much deeper problem.

We are moving inexorably not simply to news but to politics 24/7/365. And what better example than our current part-time president who, with no primary challenger in sight, is already on the campaign trail (did he ever leave it?), when the election is 19 months away. Some of us are old enough to remember when elected officials served — and ran for office or reelection only around election time.

Part of the reason for the change is the need today for vast amounts of campaign cash. But the deeper reason, I submit, is because politics has taken over so much of life.

The reason everything is so politicized is that the state's fingers are in every pie.  There is nothing from child nutrition to the details of a job application that has not been touched by the state's corrosive hand.  And when power influences most choices, then politics becomes the only way to survive.  A continental scale nation like the US has the wealth and sophistication to create enough government to destroy all of our liberties.

Break it up, break it all up before it does.