Dean outlines this problem well. Conservatives (the rich?)continually fail to understand (or choose not to understand) the ways in which the supposedly free markets are actually set up to reward their efforts more than the efforts of others.

Think of it like golf, a game that rich old guys just love. Golf is specifically set up with a handicap system, so that duffers start each and every game with some extra points on really good golfers they're playing against. The rich old guy doesn't actually have to golf better than the athlete, he just has to play well enough to not lose all his extra points. If he manages to do that, he wins! Yay!

If golf had no handicap system, rich old fat guys wouldn't like it nearly so much and probably wouldn't play nearly as often. But if you ever dare to suggest that the lack of a handicap system is part of the reason that the economic have-nots get tired of duking it out with the haves, you will receive a lecture on the importance of the American work ethic. And probably be glared at during the post-game happy hour.

Shooter: If all had "earned" their money, then redistribution would be a dirty word. Anyone who thinks that our economic pie has been evenly cut, though, is just not paying attention. How in the world can you believe that Paulson, the one who was a chief archetecht of the current economic mess, deserves the $400 plus million he walked away with? Yes, there should be massive redistribution. We should take all of Paulson's money and then tell him we aren't interested in his $800 billion bail out. Collect the $800 billion from him and his friends. We should take the vast fortunes the Wall Street boys paid themselves while they were manipulating the price of gasoline,commodities, etc. etc. I know, I know, you will say that Wall Street is open to everybody, that it plays a vital role in our economy, etc. etc. Nonsense.

I agree that many progressives seem to fail to distinguish the right's distaste for government "by and for the people" from the right's claim to be against big government.

It's amazing that this is also not clear to the majority of Republican voters, most with little money, who just can't seem to figure out that they continue to vote for people who give them a 100.00 tax cut and then take thousands from them in other ways. All a Republican candidate has to say is "hey, joe sixpack, I'm pro life," and millions of Republicans will act against their own best interests and also lose all concern for the lives of their fellow Americans.

Democrats are also in denial about the very same issue. The latest in-your-face example is the bailout, which as you pointed out, was done fairly in the UK, but not by the Dems here. The Dems were in quite a rush to again transfer more of the wealth of honest citizens and their children to professional frauds.

I also agree that the right wants government to chase after SOME Americans who owe the government money, but it is well worth noting that the right has not chased those who hide huge amounts of money in offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes like the rest of us. Despite plenty of opportunity to do so, the right has made no honest effort to collect the hundreds of billions--perhaps trillions--of taxes and penalties owed by these criminals. A campaign to collect this money could have paid for the entire bailout.

What worries me more than any of this though, is that although Presidential elections are key, Americans don't seem to understand that it is Congress we need to monitor most closely because they are in charge of the money, making the laws, declaring war and removing tyrannical presidents.

For many so-called conservatives, ideology is just a whitewash to cover their mean, self-serving actions. One good example: Here in San Francisco, a new restaurant, Epic Roasthouse, opened up on the Embarcadero. Serving $50 entrees, it clearly caters to a well-heeled audience. Meanwhile, due to a recently passed city ordinance, all restaurants in the city are required to provide healthcare for their workers, so many restaurants, Epic among them, have passed this cost along to the customer, along with a statement of the cost.

As related in San Francisco magazine, a server recounted this encounter with a representative of the 'conservative' class we are discussing here; After ringing up a $400 dinner tab, this ass left a $5 tip, along with the advice to 'enjoy your healthcare.'

So, to recap this principled conservative's stand, he paid a $16 healthcare surtax, and felt so grieved that he only left a $5 tip, for a total of $21. As the rule of thumb for tipping is 15% minimum, which would have been $60, this jerk used his 'conservative principals' to screw the server over by a minimum of $39.

This is a great example of why the working people of this country can't depend on the the fairy tale of 'trickle-down economics.'

You know, I think that maybe there's good (ethical, reasonable, kind) government and bad (mean, selfish, thoughtless) government. No matter what size the government is, its actions are composed of the actions of the individual people who set it up and run it. People doing things for good reasons equals good government, people doing bad things for bad reasons equals bad government. In most cases, it's not that tough for individuals to tell which actions are good and which are just a little icky.

For some reason, we have got in the habit of de-personalizing government (and corporations too) and have decided that govt--or the corporation--is some sort of otherish entity that has its own agenda. But at the end of the day, government is us.