Orwellian

Sigh. Another politics post. I've been trying to avoid these.

But I come back from a weekend of camping, and through Instapundit read about the NEA leaning awkwardly on artists, more 9/11 reframing, and the White House taking personal data from social networking sites and asking school kids for help.

I refrained from commenting in July when the paranoia was about President Obama requesting a meeting with CBO director Doug Elmendorf. Letting time pass showed that as very unusual but apparently not sinister.

I refrained from commenting in August when the White House asked for people to report on each other. After all, we voters are always and notoriously ignorant; how is this newsworthy or worth reporting to anyone? (As an example, here is a 2008 link. I can't find a similar 2004 one with a nice list of statistics since one study has flooded relevant Google search results.)

But all this recent stuff? As Stephen Green notes, there is no emergency. Why so much Orwellian activity? Maybe too many people in the capitol get bored when Congress is not in session.

UPDATE: More links added above.

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For the archival record, health care reform is the current political topic. I'm in the "fix Medicare first" camp.

To me, the issue is not whether hypothetical government health care might work, but whether it could be done by leadership that has bankrupt so many other programs. Even the FDA is in financial trouble.

Oregon has its own financial problems, but its small steps towards health care for everyone in the state have so far been successfully implemented.