A brilliant metaphor

Dollar Vigilante hits it in this headline/article:  "Reality finally hits the morbidly obese US Government."

My wife likes to watch medical shows: Mystery Diagnosis, Stories from the ER, etc.  A couple of times when I've been on the computer, she's been watching shows about morbidly obese people trying to reclaim their lives, and the episode caught my attention.  The linked article above is a very apt comparison.  What's compelling about watching individual stories of radical weight loss is the commitment, discipline and encouragement it takes to achieve the medical targets.  The process ends up being nothing less than personal reinvention.  Some make it.  Others don't.

The extreme challenge faced by people in such circumstances is identical to that faced by our nation.  Our government is bloated and disfunctional, having gorged on credit, cheap money and dubious programs for half a century.  A substantial part of the population lack the discipline and foresight to face the music involved in corrective action.  Even if a viable plan for recovery were cobbled together by our, ahem, representatives, it would face numerous setbacks as the pain and discomfort became apparent.

They call it 'morbidly obese' because it's life-threatening.  As I watch various signs and symptoms of our nation's sickness, I can only conclude that's right on target.