The Saga of the Golden Fleece: Why America Needs to Learn to Love Government Spending Once Again

By Rick Perlstein

Created 02/03/2009 - 3:30pm

Summary:

When every responsible expert agrees that a massive program of government spending is the only imaginable way to save America from ruin, the mere whisper of the word "pork" makes politicians cower. How did that happen? One reason is a Democrat named William Proxmire.

"No one shoots Santa Claus."

For generations of American politicians, that was as sturdy a truism as "what comes up must come down" and "'i' before 'e' except after 'c.'" For Democrats, and especially for liberals, the injunction was intoned with glee; for conservatives, with agonized pain; and for those somewhere in between, like Richard Nixon with matter-of-fact resignation (which was the spirit of his remark that we are all Keynesians now).