ROGER KIMBALL: Our Masters In Washington.

Tootling around Washington, I was struck by—well, not by its prosperity, exactly, but by what is clearly a lavish outlay of funds—your funds, in fact. Everywhere I turned there were huge building cranes. In one spot, I counted 7 over the space of a few blocks. It looked a little like a Third World country suddenly flush from newly discovered mineral reserves of some sort. Which I suppose describes the situation in Washington accurately enough, except that for “mineral reserves” you need to substitute “deficit spending.” I remember meeting my friend Edward Shils several years ago in Washington: “My, they live well on our money,” he said. What would he say today, I wonder, when Washington has come more and more to resemble Versailles circa 1780.

I’m sure it’s somehow racist to make that comparison. But what the hell — everyone who criticizes Obama is racist now. So:

UPDATE: Reader Douglas Bass says that racism isn’t the problem: “Frenchmen the world ’round will rise up in fury at your odious comparison!”