Admittedly, as Emerson instructs, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Still, Washington at the moment seems to be suffering from notably "large" and "inconsistent" minds.
There is, of course, the hilarious inconsistency and largeness of John Edwards charging $50,000 to give a college speech on poverty; specifically noting that we live in two Americas, one rich (those who get paid $50,000 for a half-hour speech) and one poor (those who have to take out a long-term loan to pay for their college textbooks -- and whose college payments paid for Edward's $50,000 speaking fee).
Also, and now famously, there is Al Gore: the energy-gobbling, carbon-emitting, endomorphic carbon-based life form who morally condemns all who gobble energy and emit carbon.
Not to be outdone, the last few years have seen rock-ribbed conservative Republicans calling for limited government and balanced budgets -- while spending the country into bankruptcy at the urgings of their friendly former staffer/lobbyists who funneled money to their re-election campaigns.
Well, at least all these inconsistencies are understandable as the natural product of the universal human yearning to enrich oneself and feather one's nest.
But there are other inconsistencies currently afoot in Washington that are a disgrace to man's proud claim to be a reasoning beast.
Consider the current arguments about the immigration bill. For oh so long, the supporters of the bill have been making two points: 1) It is impossible for the U.S. government to actually identify and round up all the illegals in the country; and, 2) a fence on the border is bound to be ineffective as well as being immoral. Indeed opponents of the fence have idiotically compared it to the Berlin Wall -- although one protects a free country from illegal intrusion, while the other kept enslaved people from escaping their slavery.
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