Conservative politicians demonstrate far more acuity at verbal economy than at fiduciary surgery, eschewing well-considered scalpels crafted and applied with thoughtful care in favor of sabers forged from well-honed cliches.
“Everything is on the table, across the board,” a newly elected congressman said on a Sunday morning talk show about the need for a “smaller, less expensive” government.
The best thing such swordsmen and women can do for their constituents is nothing at all — not because something does not need to be done, but because what they’re doing is not helpful.
Citizens at home want for food, shelter and medical care, while in foreign lands we expend billions on mercenaries to disguise our military incursions in foreign lands.
Schools want for professionally paid teachers while legislators inflict multiple rounds of standardized tests with which to measure the educational starvation of their juvenile charges.
Better they should quietly enjoy their time and parties, instead of steal bread from the very children and grandchildren they proclaim to favor.
