No Christmas For Congress
“Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges,” Tacitus said. Yes, the government is inefficient. Painfully inefficient at times to the detriment of its citizens. And yet, nevertheless, we still strive for good governance. All of us who aren’t complete anarchists or utter totalitarians strive for a balanced government which weighs the benefits and costs of liberty and order. And yet, again, we find ourselves as Americans facing a government as inefficient and corrupt as ever.
My proposal: no Christmas for Congress. As the debates over healthcare subsidies continue ad infinitum, one has to wonder why a compromise has not been reached. Is it because the Republicans are too obstinate to social spending and Obamacare that they have drawn a line in the sand? Probably. Is it because Democrats are unwilling to budge even a centimeter given their ideological fidelity to progressive values? Equally probably. In sum, this failure to find a compromise, to achieve a detente, is having disastrous consequences. And Americans are suffering.
The evidence for this is easy to find in the three areas where Americans struggle the most: healthcare, housing, and inflation. Just recently, The Atlantic published an article which documented the struggles Americans were facing by the potential stoppage of healthcare subsidies if Democrats and Republicans fail to reach a compromise before Christmas. Similarly, The Atlantic published another article by Annie Lowrey (one half of the Klein/Lowrey camp which, in my opinion, is the Sartre/de Beauvoir analogue of the public policy space) documenting the struggles of Americans to afford healthcare in the wake of predicted cuts if the Democrats and Republicans cannot reach a deal before the New Year. Finally, the campaign mastermind David Axelrod penned a piece in The Atlantic regarding inflation and how Trump, like Biden, has fallen out-of-touch (cue Hall & Oates) with the American people about inflation. Who cares about healthcare, housing, or foreign wars when the price of eggs is unaffordable!
All this is suffice to say, politicians don’t deserve Christmas this year. All the gifts, gluhwein, and presents… not for them. My recommendation: let the politicians stay in the swamp until these three issues are sorted out. If you’re a toilet cleaner, you stay at work until the toilets are clean. Similarly, if you’re a high-profile businessman, you stay at the office until the mergers and acquisitions have been completed. To all of the representatives: get the job done.
