nerd politics

Recently, I've often found myself pondering the sweeping changes in my political interests and views over the last decade. I think that the central issues in that transformation have been a newfound [and absolute] lack of faith in the government and a sudden [very strong] antipathy towards much of 'Corporate America'.

Re government, I spent most of my childhood believing that a strong (not sprawling and socialist, but strong) federal government would keep me safe from danger, both at home (police) and abroad (military). Now, I have finally realized that fascism is just a different kind of nanny state; it's not largely better or worse than socialism. The only difference is the /kind/ of freedoms you give up, not the /number/. I have always railed against seatbelt and helmet laws [for adults], social security [in its current form, at least], and the progressive income tax. To my list of government evils, I've now added several things from the opposite end of the spectrum: censorship, invasion of privacy, and imperialism.

Re the corporate world, my biggest concern is companies that are actively anticompetitive; when the government fails to put an end to cartels and monopolies that abuse their power, everybody suffers. Secondly, and this is in some ways a subset of the first problem, I cannot help but hate companies that believe they still own my property after I've purchased it. 'Intellectual property' is often the culprit; unfortunately, Congress has taken a piss all over the Constitution (specifically, Article One, Section 8) and given away the rights and freedoms of American citizens to their precious, corporate campaign donors.

After all that ranting, the most important part of this post is a question. What do /you/ care about? Seriously, I want to know. C'mon you lurkers, don't be shy. What are the most important issues facing us today?