Sponsored Content
« Administration Officials to Brief Public on Which Bills Will Be Paid, and Which Won't Be Paid, After the Close of Markets on Friday | Main | The Case for the Long Game »
July 28, 2011

Sowell: This Isn't A Great Deal, But It's Not Bad

I guess I'm sold.

Sort of.

Is the Boehner legislation the best legislation possible? Of course not! You don't get your heart's desire when you control only one house of Congress and face a presidential veto.

The most basic fact of life is that we can make our choices only among the alternatives actually available. It is not idealism to ignore the limits of one's power. Nor is it selling out one's principles to recognize those limits at a given time and place, and get the best deal possible under those conditions.

That still leaves the option of working toward getting a better deal later, when the odds are more in your favor.

There would not be a United States of America today if George Washington's army had not retreated and retreated and retreated, in the face of an overwhelmingly more powerful British military force bent on annihilating Washington's troops.

Later, when the conditions were right for attack, General Washington attacked. But he would have had nothing to attack with if he had wasted his troops in battles that would have wiped them out.

Similar principles apply in politics. As Edmund Burke said more than two centuries ago: "Preserving my principles unshaken, I reserve my activity for rational endeavors."

One thing, this idea that we're going to get more later: We're not, and we shouldn't talk about false hopes.

That sort of thing can only really happen if we're willing to shut the government down, and we're plainly not.

I'm not speaking now in terms of "should." Like I'm not saying we should not be willing to shut it down.

I'm speaking in simple terms of factual observation -- we will not shut it down, so we cannot actually force that better deal on anyone.


digg this
posted by Ace at 02:56 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
LASue: "I seem to recall a similar plan was implemented in ..."

tubal: "Root out and destroy the Hoarders!!! ..."

18-1: "[i]And if they don't have one at 22, it's a total ..."

The Unfaucinated and Unmasked Ranger - Longing to Lie in Zooey Deschanel's Bosom for Comfort: "Millenials: Why do these stupid boomers need a 350 ..."

ShainS -- Oppression Scientist and Your AI Interpreter [/b][/i][/s][/u]: " Out: Section Eight housing. In: Section Ocho ho ..."

Aetius451AD Work Laptop: "I also like the attitude: we'll just house them in ..."

Join Moron Robbie in Celebrating Groomer Awareness Month!: "For anyone who hasn't been keeping up Ukraine = ..."

Deplorable Jay Guevara[/i][/s][/b] : "Back during the first Obama administration, when t ..."

Montec: "I'm a millenial (and so is my wife!), and we now o ..."

Christopher Taylor [/i][/i][/s][/s][/b][/b][/u][/u]: "[i]The third amendment specifically mentions soldi ..."

Roy: "The city will pay me to have them live-in? Can the ..."

standfast24: "CNN is trash, Zaslav (Discovery)is too cheap to bu ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64