Defense secretary wants spending cuts... Really - Tina Dupuy
You know what we value most as a nation by what we are not
allowed to take on without widespread hysteria. The illuminating
metaphor is known as the "third rail" of politics. Lose your
footing and step on something, we as Americans, hold dear and -
ZAP!  Our most lethal third rails are cutting Medicare, cutting
Social Security, cutting defense spending, and raising taxes.
So, we can't cut anything and we can't ask citizens to pay for
it. Our third rails have us painted into a mixed-metaphor
corner.  This all could be a quaint ideological tug-o-war
between Left and Right: Left wants to spend and tax. Right wants
to cut and cut. If that were actually true, it would be as
simple as choosing your side and making your case. Do you want
to be taxed more or do you want the government to spend less?
What's clouded this question is what the dreaded government
actually is. For example: the slogan often used by right-
wingers, "We are a nation of laws," is si