When More Means Less

Would you like to have some fun? Here's how. The next time you meet a legislator ask him or her the following question: "What are you prepared to cut?"

As a rule, he or she will stand there, mute, with vacant eyes, like a duck hit in the head with a hammer. It has never, ever dawned on our political class with "power of the purse" that we could - and are - reading a point when there is no longer."more". In fact, there is going to be whole lot less.

However, when you routinely spend the money of other people to buy votes and legislative perks for yourself, the concept of "less" has no value. Enter "more, and more, and more, and more."

We think of legislators and other members of the political class as glib. They are never at a loss for words until you ask them: "What are you prepared to cut?" This question puts them on the old "spot." It is fun to watch them squirm. It is also pathetic.

A newsman once asked Samuel Gompers (1850-1924), an early American labor leader, what unions wanted. "More!" was his emphatic answer. This "mantra of more" now drives our political class and our public business, or what is left of it. It is also driving us over an economic cliff to disaster.

Here is a reality check. There is nomore. There is going to a lot less. Our legislators need to get used to this reality and act accordingly. Otherwise, they will totally destroy what's left of our economy.

The late American philospher Russell Kirk (1918-1994) defined the difference between Conservative and Liberal mindsets. The Conservative believes in limits. The Liberal rejects limits. The Conservative is willing to say no to more and more when ti becomes destructive. However, the Liberal floats along with or pushes for more, regardless of limits, reason. We are living the result of more crashing down on us.