First Principles

I recently bought a new car.  I test drove an Accord I really liked, but knowing I needed to be careful not to get sucked in (and having a smarter-than-me wife who reins me in), I told them I wanted to go test drive some other brands of cars.  The saleswoman said, “That’s fine – check out those guys at Toyota.  It’ll make you want this car even more.”  She wasn’t afraid of a careful inspection of the product she was selling, and she had no problem seeing it compared to anything else.  She earned my trust with her attitude.  And she turned out to be right.

But if she would have put the pressure on, and tried to talk me out of even looking at anything else, I probably would have gone elsewhere.  If a salesman doesn’t want you to take the time to take a good, hard look at what they’re selling, it’s a solid bet that they have something to hide.  Anyone with any sense knows that this kind of a line from any salesman is almost always a sure signal to walk – nay, run! – away, and run away fast. 

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So now we have the Salesman-in-Chief telling us we don’t have time to carefully consider decisions and votes which will have generational consequences.  We were told that without passing the stimulus package RIGHT NOW, without time for a single legislator to read it, that unemployment would get above 8%, but if it passed it wouldn’t exceed that.  Well, we passed it, and now it’s 9.4% and rising, with inflation and interest rates up, the dollar down, and the Chinese laughing out loud at our Treasury secretary.

And yet, here they go again.  BUY NOW!!!  NO TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT!!!  ACT NOW BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!!!  Judge Sotomayor’s confirmation schedule is moving at a record pace.  Obama tells us that if we don’t pass his universal health care plan now, it will never happen (we could only hope).  We’ve been hearing this crap on global warming for years.

What does he have to hide?  If his plans and nominations are good ones, what’s wrong with a few more weeks to look them over?  If the people like what he’s doing, why is he afraid of a little transparency?

I think the answer is obvious.  I just hope folks in Congress get that before we wind up with a big, expensive lemon in our garage.  After all, there’s not much room left in there for any more of them…