I don’t even know who’s on it other than John Kyl, one of those been around for a long time so you know his name Senators.
It doesn’t matter. What they are attempting is impossible, so there’s no way it can succeed. Now it’s all over but the crying, and I guess some effort will be made to explain themselves.
They’re trying to determine whose ox is going to be gored, and no one is offering up an ox. And why should they? This is Washington. Offering to take less government money is like volunteering to have your own throat slit. Fugeddaboutit.
Just in human terms, picking and choosing who is going to win and who is going to lose will do nothing but generate increasingly bitter conflict. No one will agree to be the loser.
Accordingly, government cannot be “cut”; but it can be changed.
The first step towards that goal is a jubilee, through some kind of constitutional amendment. And even there, you are picking winners and losers.
But it’s politically do-able. Know why? Because the winners are the 99%, and the losers are the 1%, although even the 1% don’t really “lose”.
See, that Occupy thing has been good for something: economy of expression.
Update: Here’s another good expression: Apres moi, le deluge. Reputedly and prophetically uttered by Louis XV. The author of the piece – David Gergen, a Washington hanger on for what seems like centuries – at least brings some historical perspective to the table. French revolution metaphors will be all the rage soon.
