American business tycoon Bernard Bailey had this to say about conceit: “When they

discover the center of the universe, a lot of people are going to discover they are not it.”

Which brings us, of course, to the federal Liberals and the latest indication of their inbred sense of entitlement and unbridled arrogance.

During a televised appearance last weekend on CBC with senior officials representing both the Conservatives and the NDP, senior Liberal spokesman Scott Reid, a veteran Grit spin doctor, dissed the Tory childcare plan to send $1,200 per year per preschool child directly to the parents so that they can chose which form of daycare is best for their particular circumstances.

The Liberal plan – which amounts to spending roughly the same amount of money over the next several years – is essentially to send the money to provincial governments to finance just one form of daycare – government-run, unionized daycare.

During the discussion, Reid said that the Tory plan has absolutely nothing to do with daycare. “Working families need care,” he said, “They need care that is regulated, safe and secure and that’s what we’re building here. Don’t give people $25 a week to blow on beer and popcorn. Given them childcare spaces that work.”

Later, realizing that his arrogance really had rum amok, Reid apologized, saying “It was a dumb way to make my point,” although he added that “the point remains that Mr. (Conservative leader Stephen) Harper offers a tax cut, not a child-care plan.”

But just to demonstrate that Reid’s condescension is widespread among Liberals – despite Prime Minister Paul Martin’s subsequent comment that it would be a “good thing” to give parents of young children extra money – another senior Liberal spokesman, John Duffy, said on a CTV show that he “absolutely” stood by Reid’s depiction of the Tory plan.

“There is absolutely nothing to stop somebody from pocketing Stephen Harper’s $1,200 supposed child-care baby bonus and spending it however the heck they want,” he said, adding that there is nothing in the Tory plan “to stop people from spending it on beer or popcorn or a coat or a car or anything.”

Where to begin?

Granted, Reid apologized for his remarks – although Duffy didn’t – and Martin tried to lessen the harm this endemic Liberal attitude does to his party’s electoral chances by saying that while his plan is better, “There is no doubt in my mind that parents are going to use it for the benefit of their families. Parents are concerned about their children and are going to use that money in a way that, I’m sure, is responsible.”

But the fact remains, Martin, however much he’s trying to save his own political skin, still does not have faith in ordinary Canadians to be able to determine what is best for their children.

Instead, he wants Big Brother to decide.

And just in case you think this isn’t fair, since Reid (although not Duffy, and not Martin either) apologized, let’s take a closer look at Reid’s apology.

He certainly did not apologize for presuming that a Liberal government is a better judge of appropriate child-care than an individual mother and/or father. He said he was sorry for the insulting tone of his remarks, but he certainly didn’t apologize for the main message they carried.

He didn’t, for example, apologize to all those hundreds of thousands of family members, friends and assorted caregivers out there who are helping to raise our next generation, but not doing it under the control of Big Brother.

When Reid says – and in this he’s echoed by Martin and other Liberals – that children under the Tory plan would be deprived of what the Liberal plan offers, i.e., “care that is regulated, safe and secure,” what he’s saying is that the majority of Canadian parents, who do not use government-run daycare, are putting their children at risk.

Sure, he wouldn’t put it quite that way. But how else do you interpret his remarks that only the Liberal plan provides “safe and secure” daycare for our children?

There is not a shred of evidence to demonstrate that children are safer, more secure or better off in state-run daycare factories. Indeed, if anything the opposite could be argued, given the number of high profile cases of government officials messing up when it comes to the ongoing care of children under their aegis.

But the main point out of all this was adroitly summed up by Harper on Monday, when he said, “I feel a sense of sadness when I hear these comments. We value parents. We think parents are the most critical part of raising kids.”

That’s something which differentiates Tories from both Liberals and New Democrats. They both opt for the state rather than the individual. Sad.