On Budgets

The new federal budget is titled "A New Era of Responsibility: Renewing America's Promise."

It's a slogan. I feel like, to read it aloud, I'd have to have my teeth whitened and stand in front of an American flag with a fan aimed at my face. I hate slogans. They are inherently meaningless and manipulative. They are flash and fluff. They are designed to set the pleasure centers of the average voter brain chiming without even touching the rational thought centers. And, sadly, modern politics couldn't succeed without them.

I didn't even know budgets had titles. I checked and found that all of President Bush's budgets but the first one were titled "Budget." The first was called "A Blueprint for New Beginnings: A Responsible Budget for America's Priorities." I couldn't find the title for Clinton's first budget, but the last two presidents at least gave their first budget a slogan title. At least Bush's budget, while it also used "Responsible" as a meaningless buzzword, left out patronizing mentions of "Renewing America's Promise." Federal budgets do not renew America's promise. Americans renew America's promise.

Someday a politician will win my heart by promising to name his very first budget "Budget."