Chris Isaak on Restraining Government

In his introductory comments about performer Chris Isaak in Sunday's Washington Post, interviewer Joe Heim says

Chris Isaak may be the closest thing popular music has to a Renaissance man. The moody singer-songwriter's résumé includes stints as television and movie actor, talk-show host, artist, surfer, fisherman and Golden Gloves champion.

Isaak also has a disarmingly self-deprecating honesty. When Heim asks him about solving California's budget crisis, the musician replies:

I don't think we want a remedy for it. The less the government has to spend, the better off we'll be. But I should say that I, and the rest of entertainers, don't know a god-durned nothing about policies. We're too busy self-aggrandizing to come up with any solutions. It's amazing how many entertainers can find time between adopting children to tell you how to live your life.

Set aside Isaak's modest demurrer and focus on that second sentence:

The less the government has to spend, the better off we'll be.

That's the cutout quote for the future; that's what will end up in Bartlett's -- or at least should do so.



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