I read Mike Ballard's comments with interest. If you look at the libertarian economists like Von Mises and Hayek, they make the market a kind of god, which must rule human affairs. However, as Karl Polanyi's daughter Kari argued in an essay titles "The Origins of Market Fetishism," these economists were terrified of the rising masses of workers in Germany and the rest of Europe. They knew very well that the market god would need a strong and repressive state to control the workers' movement. The ideas of freedom, etc. that are always a large part of the ideology of the market will appeal to some working people, who want to be free of the bosses' control but don't grasp the sources of the bosses's power. I used to say that libertarians are always ready to put on their jack boots when push comes to shove.And while I agree that arguing that the US is heading toward fascism is just idle talk for the most part, it is impossible to deny that many working people are as dedicated to the nation state as are the members of the ruling class, ready to sacrifice their children for the empire. Just sticks in the larger bundle of wood.