Are you better off more liberal than four years ago…?

Are you better off more liberal than four years ago…?

: Tom Watson (the American, not the blogging MP) says it’s a myth that America has moved to the right under the forceful wind of Republican conservatism:

We can argue symbols, of course. (The phony marriage amendment comes to mind). And we should argue about policy. (Iraq). But answer these litmus test questions. Is the Federal government more powerful than it was five, 10, 20, 50 years ago? Does it collect more and spend more? Does it regulate much less? Have reproductive rights been rolled back? Do we spend less on education than we ever have in the past? Are we really more culturally conservative?