steve harper, governing by sledgehammer

A brilliant analogy, Mr.Gardner!

snippet

The other day I picked up a sledgehammer and smashed my television.

The wife and kids were somewhat surprised.

“Honey,” my wife said gently. “Why did you do that?”

“Didn’t like the picture quality,” I replied.

“But we’ve had that TV for years and you never said a word about it before,” she said.

I shrugged.

My wife expressed further disgruntlement. So did the kids. I thought they’d shut up about it but they just kept going on and on. It was annoying.

“OK,” I said. “I’ll fix the situation.”

So I went to the store. “Fix the situation,” I told the clerk.

The clerk showed me new TVs.

“Do these have better picture quality than the TV I smashed?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “The TV you smashed is the best TV there is. No other TV is its equal. Would you like to buy a new one?”

Wow, I thought. This guy’s not very sharp. “I’d look pretty stupid if I bought the same TV I smashed,” I said. “I want a different TV. But it should be as good as the one I smashed.”

The clerk frowned. “But I just told you no other TV is as good as the TV you smashed.”

“I don’t care about your problems, buddy, “ I said. “Fix the situation.”

This is how Prime Minister Stephen Harper governs Canada.

Here is the rest of the anecdote.