What conservatives and libertarians are most animated about nowadays is the abuse
of public - good
authority, particularly as such
authority has been misused for a very long time to tax and spend, not generally on
public goods like defense but on wealth - transfer programs, such as social security, Medicare and Medicaid, and other
entitlements — the kinds
of programs, in other words, that have effectively bankrupted Greece, are threatening to bankrupt several other European nations, and are undermining the European Monetary Union.