Continuing the expeditions of Jeff MacNelly, James Kilpatrick, and Eugene McCarthy, with apologies.

The Deficit Hawk

When new legislators once came to Washington they were often found scanning the skies above them, on the lookout for the Deficit Hawks. Coincidentally the purposeful people’s defender and the scourge of the ambitious drafter of bills, the Deficit Hawk preyed upon the dreams of taxers and spenders. Many a newbie found that the policies he or she campaigned on were rendered untenable by the sharp pencil talons of the DH. Dozens became one term legislators after having to face a re-election constituency  without any enacted bills to account for the time in the public trough. the Deficit Hawks had become the police force for the governmental bottom line.

Alas, the once the sharp sighted cops have now gone blind. The political evolutionary cycle has taken a toll and selection has deemed the eyesight of the DH superfluous. Indeed, after the GOP gave up its affectation with the entire DH species, the creature’s gifts were ignored, and unused, creating a situation ripe for sensory atrophy. Like a deep sea fish, or subterranean crawler, the need for keen eyesight ebbed away over time, and now one sees new legislators ignoring the skies and instead staring downward at their smartphones.

-Danny Grosso