Is America Moving Towards Collectivism?

The purpose of the State in America is to provide protection to its citizens and handle judicial matters, and that is it. The bail outs that the government is handing large corporations is like a basketball player trying his hand at physics, it doesn't work because the knowledge isn't there. Politicians should stick to being good lawyers, not trying to be business men and economists, and that is the central problem involved in government meddling in economic affairs. Save for the FDIC securing the funds of individual Americans, this is pointless. The US government is rewarding irresponsible business practices with large sums of money, and it doesn't make sense. In a free market system, these terrible business men would be punished by losing their businesses, watching them flounder while more competent entities fill the gap in the marketplace the bufoons leave. Taxpayers are footing the bill to maintain these defunct businesses, and I'm tired of money I shouldn't even have to give up being allocated to people who obviously don't know how to handle money. The big government crutch has to be snatched from under the American economy in order for it to truly heal, as opposed to allowing big business to drag itself along with its weight being supported by the American taxpayer.

That being said, I'm not saying that there is some evil conspiracy between the government and these financial institutions, I'm just saying that we need to have a little logic. What ideals about America does the government perpetuate when we reward irresponsibility with even more responsibility? Next thing you know, we'll be bordering on nationalization of private industry just because the government has to step in and bail out these idiots once again. Maybe I'm racing ahead of myself, but thats the future I see coming if we don't allow the business world to adjust itself. The economy works in cycles, any dark times regarding the value of our money and inflation will eventually pass, but we are so quick to go into panic mode we fail to realize we are only encouraging the government using our dollars as caulk to plug sinking ships. A well intentioned mistake is still just that, a mistake