Harry Reid the Political Philosopher, Obama the Doormat

From a New York Times article on "special provisions" in the health bill for "special constituents": White House officials have generally acquiesced in the provisions, which they see as a normal part of the legislative process, required to secure votes for a bill overwhelmingly opposed by Republicans. Republicans complained of “sweetheart deals,” payoffs and kickbacks. But the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, brushed aside the criticism. “There’s a hundred senators here, and I don’t know if there is a senator that doesn’t have something in this bill that was important to them,” Mr. Reid said. “If they don’t have something in it important to them, then it doesn’t speak well of them. That’s what this legislation is all about. It’s the art of compromise.” Apparently, Reid's philosophy amounts to this: if you're not corrupt like me and my friends, you're not a good representative and you're failing your country. And anybody who fails to make the government more active, through new laws, regulations, taxes, handouts, is failing in his work. I swear that the underlying political philosophy of these socialists is that man is a born slave and requires his master's (government's) help and discipline in all aspects of life, not excluding the life of the mind (see, political correctness). The best that could be said of any of them is that they are oblivious and profoundly naive as to the effects an ever-expanding nanny-state has on the thoughts, actions, and character of the people.