Be pleased to reform the abuses of all professions: and if there be any one that makes many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a Commonwealth.
(To the Long Parliament, after the battle of Dunbar, Sept. 1650.)
Confronting the new tax “overhaul,” you have to ask – do any Republicans in Congress believe that they are still, at least marginally, in the business of democratic representation? Such a deep delusion may be possible. Or do they understand perfectly well that they are nothing but the lying, ordinary-citizen-duping whores of hungry cynical power?
Anecdotally, I feel inclined to assume that some of them would be reduced to amazement and sniggering by the very idea that in politics you ought to do what is morally right. (Or that this might involve representing the interests of your constituents, and loudly and publicly renouncing any pressure from donor-shits who want it otherwise.) But with some – Paul Ryan, for instance, with his ill-fitting suits and schoolboy smile – you think: maybe he really did swallow so much Ayn Rand that his brain and his moral compass never recovered.
Curious. Which of these two theories best tracks what is wrong with these corrupted, loathsome people?
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P.S. For a more detailed look at just one aspect of why this bill will be a disaster for America, read this piece by Fareed Zakaria.
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