The Republican Revolution, Like Saturn, Devours its Own Children

Just to highlight how little change came about after the 1994 Republican sweep of Congress, the Weekly Standard tells the tale of lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his innovative applications of the ideology of limited government on behalf of Indian tribes with casinos on their reservations:

Abramoff told the Post earlier this year that those Indian tribes "are engaged in the same ideological and philosophical efforts that conservatives are--basically saying, 'Look, we want to be left alone.'"...And we should add that the tribes don't want to be left alone, you know, all the time. Abramoff has also bragged of the millions of tax dollars he has snagged for his Indian clients, in the form of more conventional pork-barrel appropriations for roads, schools, water projects, sewers, and the rest.

The Republicans, it seems, may be winning elections, but it comes at the cost of gorging themselves to death on public money.

Interestingly, Senator John McCain, whose just been bumped off one committee because of the term limits introduced a decade ago, has now ended up in charge of the Indian Affairs and is positioning himself for the 2008 nomination for President. These Washington lobbyists might well end up getting the same treatment from the Senator as Hanoi did so many years ago.