A New Definition of Chutzpah

If I remember rightly (and I'm willing to be corrected), Lenny Bruce explained "chutzpah" with the following anecdote: In 1963, Time magazine did a feature on the most beautiful women in the world, and top of the list was Jackie Kennedy. It looked like a bit of brown-nosing, but it was a choice they could easily defend. In 1964, they did a similar feature, and top of the list was Lady Bird Johnson. THAT, said Lenny Bruce, is the definition of chutzpah.

And so I thought until I read the opinion piece by Steve Forbes in the January 30 issue of Forbes magazine. Commenting on the Jack Abramoff scandal, Forbes argues that it will not be the last such case in American life so long as central government remains so pervasive and huge. Here are his suggestions for effective steps that can be taken to prevent further lobbying outrages:

1) a flat tax

2) deregulation

3) term limits and reform of redistricting to create greater competition amongst politicians.

Can it be just coincidence that these are exactly the same solutions that Forbes suggests in his column this week, on the crisis over those fucking cartoons? Surely not.