Steyn on Stimuli

Mark Steyn, as he so often does, has written another witty, painfully accurate column, this time on the 'stimulus'. The whole thing is worth the time, but here's a taste:

The bloated nonstimulus and the undertaxed nominees are part of the same story. I'm with Tom Daschle: I understand why he had no desire to toss another six-figure sum into the great sucking maw of the federal Treasury. Who knows better than a senator who's voted for every tax increase to cross his desk that all this dough is entirely wasted? Tom and Tim Geithner and Charlie Rangel and all the rest are right: They can do more good with the money than the United States government can.

I only wish they followed the logic of their behavior and recognized that what works for them would also work for every other citizen. Instead, they insist that the sole solution to our woes is a record-setting wasteful government spending spree.

That simple idea alone - that I know better how to spend my money than the Feds ever will - would put a stop to 90% of the nonsense that comes out of Washington.

But it would be best to recognize the more important fact and moral point: it's my money and I have an inalienable right to do with it as I see fit. Even if D.C., contra all history, were filled with the country's highest geniuses who were at the same time moral saints, it wouldn't change that basic principle. Even if a bunch of pragmatic Keynesians and Progressives have what they think is a purchase that 'works better', that right is not morally dispensable. To do so is just one more step down the road to totalitarianism.