A soon as you have significant regulation, you now have unwanted coupling between government and industry. The rest is just inevitable. I love your bit about P

A soon as you have significant regulation, you now have unwanted coupling between government and industry. The rest is just inevitable. I love your bit about PR - that's beyond true. But it's the sort of thing that, once you see it, it doesn't really scare you any more. It's all very silly in the end. The rest? People don't have strong mechanisms for identity any more. They don't live on the same land all their lives, they may or may not have strong affiliation with an extended family, so more ephemeral things creep in. I have friends who rant about the Left or the Right, and when you get 'em calmed down, at their core they're usually pretty centrist, but they depend on political entertainment product too much. And political entertainment product is rapidly going self-referential - this week's FOX story is a volley-hit back from last week's CNN story, ad nauseum. It's just cheap air time with delusions of grandeur.