Obama won just over 50% of the popular vote and sure enough, Jonathan Cohn, one of TNR’s chief propagandists, is claiming that Obama won a mandate. Before expanding on his claim, however, Cohn goes on a detour summarizing some of the political issues over the last few years, and whaddaya know, he somehow never gets back to explaining how Obama’s victory is a mandate as promised. Oops.

Evidently, TNR doesn’t bother to employ editors one of whom might have told Cohn that his post was incoherent. The truth is that when a presidential candidate wins just over 50% of the vote and the opposition party wins a majority in the House of Representatives, there is no mandate. But that won’t stop Cohn and other liberal authoritarians from using the idea of a mandate as they seek to impose their will on the other half of the people in this country through centralized government. The minds of these liberals never seem to include the concepts of decentralization, self-government, and self-determination.

Instead, liberals are too busy clinging to their big government and, like Cohn, proclaiming how authoritarian government gives people “peace of mind” or makes life “more secure.” And let’s not forget Cohn’s claim that his big government creates more opportunities for tens of millions of Americans. Yeah, right – just like the peace of mind that calms the rioters in Greece or the opportunity enjoyed by the 25% of workers unemployed in Spain.