Gangster government

I'm sure that I would disagree with Michele Bachman about abortion - I'm pro-choice - and the role of religion in government - I don't think it should have any - but I do share her concern over what she calls "the politicization of the allocation of economic rewards" in this column by George Will in today's The Oklahoman:

Some of her supposed excesses are, however, not merely defensible, they are admirable. For example, her June 9 statement on the House floor in which she spoke of "gangster government” has been viewed on the Internet about 2 million times. She noted that, during the federal takeover of General Motors, a Democratic senator and one of her Democratic House colleagues each successfully intervened with GM to save a constituent’s dealership from forced closure. One of her constituents, whose dealership had been in the family for 90 years, told her that the $15 million dealership had been rendered worthless overnight and, Bachmann said, "GM is demanding that she hand over her customer list,” probably to give it to surviving GM dealerships that once were competitors.

Bachman calls such actions "gangster government". I think that's an accurate description of what a government does when it oversteps its legitimate bounds and undertakes to do more than protect individual rights.