On this evening’s Beltway Boys, Fred Barnes and Mort Kondracke debated whether the Obama porkulus amounted to socialism, with Mort vehemently denying it and Fred suggesting we’re on the road to European-style democratic socialism.  My two cents: does anyone really think the Dems don’t find Swedish cradle-to-grave government groovy?

Along the way, the guys displayed a recent Fox News poll.  There was some good news and some very bad news.  On the one hand, 76% think Americans are starting to rely too much on government. But when it got down to specifics, way too many Americans think it’s government’s job to do way too many things.  The most depressing/disturbing poll result: a majority think it’s the government’s responsibility to “make sure all Americans have jobs.”

What the hell are these people thinking?  Do Americans really want to become a nation of nanny-staters suckling at the government teat? Are a majority of our compatriots really willing to sell their birthright of freedom for a plate of big-government porridge—or is this a statistical blip?