David Warren wonders if Obama is like Gorbachev.

In a very well written piece David Warren compares and contrasts Gorbachev who is blamed for destroying the Soviet Union and Obama who may have a potential in destroying the United States.  A most interesting comparison and one that initially sounds slightly absurd.  The underlying theme that David puts forth and one that may very well be true is that both men, upon being elected, had visions of grand change.  Similarly important is that both of these visions were of a benevolent nature.  Gorbachev truly felt that by opening up the press and breaking down censorship the Soviet Union would emerge stronger and better.  It did not.  Obama feels that by ushering in massive wealth distribution policies while using government's big hand to fix all life's injustice we will emerge a better and strong America.  We will not. 

So what makes Obama so confident and emboldened by a task that has been disproven so many times before?  Warren's key point lies in the following:

A variant of this is the frequently expressed denial of the law of unintended consequences: the belief that, if the effect you intend is good, the actual effect must be similarly happy.

Very small children, the mad, and certain extinct primitive tribes, have shared in this belief system, but only the fully college-educated liberal has the vocabulary to make it sound plausible.

Indeed. Repeating the same task and expecting different results is the true sign of insanity and despite all of Obama's well wishing intentions, what he is doing is insane. There is an inherent danger in trusting the products of Yale, Columbia and Harvard - something some of us have understood after the failure of the New Deal. Warren goes on to say that after Obama's policies take hold, America will no longer be the same and even if we do not collapse a la Soviet Union we will be rocked to the core.  He may sound fatalistic and cynical, but there comes a point in the expansion of government and far reaching regulations that can be considered the breaking point.  Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek warned us of the merciless expansion of government control under the guise of benevolence.  Not because all socialist tendencies lead to fascist regimes (although Hayek argued that many do and will), but because reversing and undoing the growth of government is an exercise in futility.  Just like it is no longer possible to undo the damage of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid so too will it be possible to undo ObamaCare, Cap and Trade, Federal school loans and amnesty - ambitions high on Obama's agenda.  If we do not fight this now, there will be nothing left to fight for later.