Your explanation here, Nicholas, is helpful.

Thanks for sharing it on Medium.

The "deep state" misconception goes a little deeper than national security.

It also pertains to all the little mom 'n pops out there who are trying to make a living in small enterprise.

The federal bureacracy has a vast web of administrative law that complicates the prospect of any citizen to initiate and maintain a small business.

In the field of construction, for instance, small contractors have a large overhead expense that is mandated by federal and state laws.

In the construction industry, for instance, small contractors carry a heavy burden of regulated responsibilities for their work(wo)men.

OSHA regulations, for instance, are infamous for complicating and making-more-expensive the prospect of productive, profitable enterprise.

The bottom line: Federal and State bureaucracies almost strangle small enterprise with reasonable--though excessive--regulations that make "Main Street" entrepreneurship prohibitively expensive.

This is what "deep state" means to some free-enterprising Americans who have limited resources with which to make a living.

Just sayin'.