Spring Cleaning

For the fifth year in a row, the Washington Post has offered readers a two-​page spread, “Spring Cleaning: 10 Things to Toss Out,” featuring ten people on what to cleanse from our society.

Also for the fifth time, the Post’s email asking for my “thing” was obviously snagged by my spam filter. Computers!

Still, ten is a number I can easily count to — here’s the Post’s list:

1. Ben Bernanke? The measure carries! Wait … do we get to vote?
2. Compliments? Really? Well … good try.
3. Retweets are not endorsements? Skip.
4. Flip-​flops? Wrong channel.
5. Innovation? Love it. And yet I look forward to the new, upgraded version of any computer program like a shot of the Ebola virus with a long, dirty needle.
6. Red Lines? Foreign Policy’s Editor Susan B. Glasser tossed out red lines, noting that in Syria “The ‘red line’ has been crossed … And Obama is backed into a predictable corner.” By all means, if the Great O cannot live up to his red-​line proclamations, let’s been done with such lines. And the color red, too.
7. The term “Working Mother”? Meaning: ALL mothers are working mothers. Heck, I can testify; I probably made the mess.
8. College Rankings? It’s unanimous.
9. Texas? Couldn’t we just move the Dallas Cowboys from the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference so Washington doesn’t have to play them?
10. Automatic Tax Withholding? This was Milton Friedman’s idea to get money into the government faster during World War II. Since regretted. But not going anywhere anytime soon.

Too bad that doggone email didn’t arrive, but let me present the eleventh thing to toss out: Career politicians.

Time again to clean both House and Senate.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.