[notahacker]

I think the last half century of European history proves that the sub-Hayekian argument implying increased government intervention necessarily leads to dictatorship is even more intellectually bankrupt than those in favour of a fully planned economy. 35 hour working weeks and high minimum wages are not a radical or untried idea. Arguably excessive regulation of working conditions has contributed to many of Europe's present economic and social problems, and that's a subject worth discussing, but the imagined threat of mass-murdering autocrats isn't one of them. In HN of all places we shouldn't be invoking Godwin's law at this stage of an argument.