My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.

Grover Norquist

Norquist and I have never met. Given our relative positions along the political spectrum (and social hierarchy), we would have no reason to know each other. In truth, I would have no interest in being in his presence (nor, I am sure, he being in mine).

Yet, in last night’s State of the Union address, a Norquistinian pall shrouded my evening. President Obama proposed a three-year freeze on “some” domestic programs. Even among the “some” there will be winners and losers. If the past is prologue, the conservation community is in for another round of disappointments.