This is obviously not a financial blog but I felt compelled to address an Editorial on ABCNews by Sam Donaldson entitled "Today We Are All Socialists."  In it he says...

Yes, socialism has now washed over free market capitalism and only a very brave, or foolhardy few would protest.

The federal government has nationalized the banks, the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve doors have opened wide and taxpayer money flows faster than quicksilver, and this week, the presidential candidates have each come up with new, immediate relief plans that have the government intervening in a way that costs a lot more money. The candidates have realized, late, but finally, that the economic pain Americans are feeling must be felt now -- thank you, Bill Clinton -- not next January when one of them becomes president.

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Make no mistake; we are living in a new age. Just as we will never go back to a pre-9/11 security mentality, we will never go back to the free market, deregulated economic policies in the same degree that brought us to this crisis.

You know, it takes a special kind of stupid to have been watching the world for as long as he has and still not have a clue.

Ben Franklin once said "he who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither" and while I understand the point Franklin was trying to make I also realize the world is more complicated than that.  It seems to me the United States exists in a constant struggle between the extremes of complete freedom and complete security and like any struggle that will place us closer to one or the other at any given time. 

This is present in every aspect of our lives.  Whether it be approving of the Patriot Act after 9/11 only to shun it now or allowing the government to bail out banks after a period of free market deregulation we are constantly in this struggle between the security of being controlled and the freedom to not be. 

Which leads us to an unending cycle between the two extremes.  Preferring freedom until it's abused and then imposing security until we chafe under it and once again demand more freedom.  At which point the roller coaster ride starts over again. 

So when Sam Donaldson declares we will never go back to "the free market, deregulated economic policies" of the past he's showing just how naive he is.  We in fact will do that one day just as we'll one day be right back in the same crisis we're in today.  At that time we'll take steps to repair the damage, pick ourselves up, and start the whole thing over again.

Because it is in our nature as Americans to strive for as much freedom as possible and freedom will always require giving up a measure of security.