Maggie's Farm

A quote from a Robert Samuelson piece in the NY Sun:

By all rights, we should be having a fierce debate over the role of government. What should it do, for whom and why? What can we afford? Who should pay? These questions would suggest a campaign that seriously engages the future, but instead, we have a bidding war between candidates to see who can promise the most appealing package of new spending programs and tax cuts...

As we watch the conventions, we should recognize that we've entered an era of fantasy politics. Like fantasy football and baseball, fantasy politics is an exercise in make-believe that is intended to keep its players occupied and to make the winners feel good. Senators Obama and McCain emit pleasing slogans and programs that, as often as not, are disconnected from the country's actual problems they'll encounter in office.