These are dark days for American lovers of liberty. Our government, ostensibly the representatives of the most self-reliant large population of any country in the world, on Sunday ignored the will of an outraged electorate to do what governments like to do: usurp power from the citizenry. With a long list of new laws micromanaging individuals’ health care decisions now in place, people are angry and, more than anything I think, saddened. The disappointment is palpable, and there exists a fear that the legislation will in years to come change the national culture to one of entitlement and dependency, as well as push us farther along the road to national bankruptcy. Apres ca le deluge.

I started to post this link to Dalrymple’s new essay in City Journal with a lede like “Dalrymple offers a warning to Americans of the inevitable consequences of government-run health care”. But there have already been so many warnings that there seems to be no point.