All human hubris must eventually find its resting place. We look out across the vast, rolling expanse of this American republic, a landscape littered with the quiet bones of empires and the forgotten ledgers of bankrupt kings, only to find our gaze narrowing down to a single, gilded tower on Fifth Avenue and the stubborn mortality of the mortal man who built it. They say a man can outrun his creditors, outtalk his prosecutors, and outvote his executioners, but he cannot outlive the two grim constants that govern this mortal coil. It was an old maxim of mine, polished by years of watching the human comedy unfold from the Mississippi to the Potomac, that there are only two things in this life which are absolutely certain, and those are Death and Taxes.
Tag Archives: Political Satire
Congress creatures of the swamp
It has often been remarked that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress. But that, I fear, is a touch too harsh for a Wednesday. To be fair to our representatives, they do occasionally take a break from the arduous task of spending other people’s money to return home and engage in what they call a “District Work Period.” In the common tongue of the citizen who actually earns his bread, this is known as a recess; in the eyes of the cynical, it is merely a parade. Continue reading