Empty Promise

When it gets down to brass tacks, the GOP has no brass.

‘It’s just hortatory.” That’s what judges are wont to tell litigators who try to get courts to order some course of action based on the preamble of a law. The preamble is the big wind, the hot air: lawgivers covering themselves in glory, detailing the high-minded, selfless motivation that prompts them to act. Then comes the rain. That’s the consequential part, the nuts and bolts...