Usually when we're in the midst of a government shutdown, I'm in a good mood. Sure, recent shutdowns haven't accomplished much in terms of shrinking the cost or scope of the federal government in the long run, but it's nice to walk around feeling a little less governed than usual.

But even that small pleasure has turned sour. Yes, fiscal restraint matters. It matters to this magazine, which has made cutting spending the subject of a greater percentage of our cover stories than perhaps any other publication. And it matters to me personally; I've spent the last 25 years writing about the need to take debt and spending seriously. The size of the state is inversely proportional to personal liberty in ways that are too often overlooked.

But the intense acceleration of the quest to aggregate p

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