My brief and glancing foray into policy wonkery begins thus, in today’s column :
Full-time political junkies are often criticized for their cynicism. We’re too blasé, too dismissive of idealism, ideas, hope and plain old do-goodery. There’s merit to this complaint, and I would have more sympathy for it if Washington were not a cesspool of intellectual reprobates and rent-seeking whorishness. There’s a reason the golden spirit of the high-school overachiever (“and if we all work together, we can make this the best yearbook ever!”) turns to dross in this fetid swamp of institutionalized asininity.
Take, for a timely example, Medicare Part D, a.k.a. the prescription-drug benefit. If Washington is a sausage factory, then this is surely the most jumbo of wieners…