https://pjmedia.com/rogerkimball/2012/01/08/our-masters-in-washington/feed/PJ Media is a leading news site covering culture, politics, faith, homeland security, and more. Our reporters and columnists provide original, in-depth analysis from a variety of perspectives.en-usWed, 10 Jun 2026 08:26:21 -0400<![CDATA[I am just back from a brief family trip to our nation’s capital. The efficient cause of our sojourn was a twelfth-night party at some friends’ in nearby McLean, Virginia, but we took the occasion to visit the Air and Space Museum, a reliable hit with our 13-year-old son and a source of wonder for his 4-year old sister. We also — that is, my son and I also — visited the International Spy Museum, an establishment I hadn’t known about before, meeting up later with the distaff side at the Natural History Museums (gems, butterflies, dinosaurs). 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 seven 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.]]>Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:42:30 -0500<![CDATA[Roger Kimball]]>https://pjmedia.com/roger-kimball/2012/01/08/our-masters-in-washington-n116732