Vocabulary with T: Unlikely Event

There's an old joke about Congress which compares lawmaking to the production of sausage and argues of both that it's best not to see either being made.  As the nation prepares for the self-induced wound that is the fiscal cliff, it seems apt to review the notion.  Congress has landed us in this situation and its their responsibility to get us out.  That they seem determined to do it in a fashion that will leave the national electorate both exhausted and disgusted is no surprise to me.

I could add my voice to the chorus of Congressional critics blaming the Republicans for this mess.  I could wring my hands and wonder why it is that Grover Norquist and the Tea Party Republicans feel that compromise, a principle at the very core of our Constitution and government, is suddenly a dirty word and unthinkable concept.

But human relations are messy at best and these days politics are a mirror of the worst of human relations, so I am not surprised at the painful ordeal Congress has constructed for the nation.  And since crying about it won't change things, I am inclined to find some ways to laugh instead.

Here, T has a phrase that's useful.  Time and time again, I have heard her say it of an unlikely event.   When she says it, the image is always quite clear in my mind.  And these days, as Congress haltingly considers doing the job they were elected to complete, it's a pretty useful notion.  And so I turn to T's phrase and suggest that the specter of Republican members of Congress cooperating and compromising to get their work done will be like seeing a "leprechaun riding a unicorn."