Are you sure you want a bigger government?

Whenever I get into conversations with progs in real life, I usually ask them pretty early on if they have any solutions to any social or economic problems which don't involve giving the government more money and power. It's an enjoyable couple seconds of silence and much fun to watch them blush and their eyes boggle before they start vilifying people, principles, and free enterprise as a way of proving their magnanimous tolerance for opposing ideas.

After a minute or two of abuse, I'll ask, "So you don't actually think there any problems that are better handled by free society? -The government must be a part of every solution?"

They'll usually protest, "not every problem."

"Okay, which ones?"

Try this with your own prog friends. You'll come to see more clearly the distinction between what Sowell calls the 'unrestrained' and 'constrained' visions for social issues. The former thinks that there are no problems that cannot eventually be solved and that the government is very tool for every repair, and the latter believes that humans are tragically fallen, we are limited in what we can fix, the most effective solutions are still merely trade-offs which have costs and negative consequences, and most fixes which are imposed from above by government usually exacerbate the problems that would have been better resolved in time at the local level between the concerned parties.