You’ve no doubt heard Grover Norquist’s signature quote, “I don’t want to abolish government. I simply want to reduce it to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub.” While many conservative politicians may not live and breathe Norquist’s philosophy, that philosophy is a central tenet of today’s conservative ideology. However, as Eli from Fire Dog Lake notes, starving the government makes about as much sense as starving your body:
Starving the government because you don’t like everything it does is like starving your body because you’re pissed off about a hangnail, and then using your inevitable decline as proof that your body sucks and doesn’t deserve to be fed. And then insisting that you’re better off using the money you saved on food to pay for some nice efficient life-support machines to take care of you instead.
In Colorado Springs, Colorado, residents are finding out first hand what kind of quality of life they can expect as a result of starving their government, and here in southeastern Wisconsin, we’ve got an example of our own, thanks to County Executive Scott Walker. While there certainly is a limit to what government can and should do for citizens, starving government certainly isn’t the solution conservatives seem to think it is.
H/T to Mercury Rising.
Well to stick to this rather asinine analogy, it’s more not carb loading because you want to walk around the block & maybe toss a ball with your kid, not compete in the Ironman.
I should add that there’s mounting evidence supporting a heavily reduced calorie diet, especially later in life can dramatically increase longevity. 🙂
Of course your analogy fails to mention that this government is the equivalent of Manuel Uribe with a 50,000 calorie/day intake…..