How many statists-- even the flaming statists-- realize they are statists?
A friend's comment made me stop to consider the question. Her observation-- that the ones she knows are completely unaware of their statism-- is right on the mark.
They are like fish, unaware of the water they are immersed in. They can't feel it, taste it, see it or otherwise experience its existence. It simply "is". It is their "normal". They expect (if they are aware enough to expect anything) their experience to be universal.
I, however, can feel statism choking the life out of me sometimes. I'm drowning in the statism the statists can't notice.
Forget draining "the swamp"; their beloved cesspool of lumpy statism needs to be drained and dried and sterilized.
My life has been a case of learning to swim so that their filthy statism doesn't snuff out my life. It hasn't been easy. I think I'm getting better at it. And, I do what little I can to drain their treasured cesspool.