John Edwards Was Right.

There are Two America's - the America that works, and risks, to produce the goods and services we want, and the America that produces nothing and risks nothing themselves, but wants to tell the producers what to produce an how they should do it. When the latter America exceeds the former America, decline and decay are inevitable.

In the Unites States today, the latter now exceeds the former:

More Americans work for the government than work in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. We have moved decisively from a nation of makers to a nation of takers. Nearly half of the $2.2 trillion cost of state and local governments is the $1 trillion-a-year tab for pay and benefits of state and local employees. (emphasis mine)

Glenn Reynolds notes: "To a certain crowd, this isn't a bug, but a feature." Indeed.