The Monetary Appetite of The District

Victor Davis Hanson's article on conservatives and the current and recent economies is interesting. He writes:

Balancing budgets and saying no to always expanding government, first, is a moral issue. Just as the individual does not borrow from others to satisfy his own appetite, does not consume what he does not earn, so too government should not spend what the nation has not produced. The conservative, as the custodian of ancient morality, must remind the populace of the thriftiness of our ancestors that explains the bounty we inherited.

The excerpt sums up pretty well what I wanted to tell the man running for Congress today at the train station who shook my hand--I thought I'd start out with, "Oh, you wanna go join the spending orgy in The District, eh?" But had I done so, I would have missed my train. I am one hundred percent sure it would not have made the slightest difference. But if he's there on the way home tonight, I'll take a shot at saying something, lest he think silence implies consent. It's a special election, and the candidate is hoping to fill the Congressional shoes of Rahm Emanuel, who's gone to The District to assist the White House Party. I suppose I think I am bit entitled to comment on the larger picture since Rahm, Blago, are my local guys, who've work with the President in Chicago, and I see, even if through a glass darkly, how clout corrupts. The most disturbing concern in Hanson's article is the notion that there are few if any "police" who will mind the police. I hope he's wrong on a number of points.

Comments

[Rob G]

Very interesting timing, Jim, as just a day or two ago I ran across this:

http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/the_pentagon_is_a_money_toilet/

Hanson would probably not agree with Zmirak, but still, there it is...