THINGS THAT AREN'T SO DIFFERENT

From WaPo, today:

But in reality the new tax bill is a huge triumph for President Bush and the underlying "starve the government" ideology he represents.

One of the arguments against the filibuster is that it represents a binding of future congresses, whereas the theory of democratic government that Reps rely on here (taken, strangely perhaps, from Blackstone) says that each Congress is fresh and is not bound by past Congresses.

But in fiscal policy, of course, all bets are off. Here the current Congress is perfectly allowed to tie the hands of future Congresses by engaging in a startling opening shot in what is intended to be a startling period of retrenchment.

Whatever.