Romnibus: Let's Make a Deal!

And if anyone can explain this extended metaphor that Mitt Romney used a high school assembly this morning, please do so in the comments. (On the bus, we were puzzled by how, in life, "you can know what's behind the curtain." Does anyone ever know exactly how their choices will turn out?)

You know when I was in elementary school and then high school, there was a TV show on that has the same name as a new TV show, and the TV show was “Let's Make a Deal.” It was different than the current version.

[Explains concept of the old "Let's Make a Deal," where you trade a known prize for whatever was behind a curtain... says one woman trade her prize for a lifetime supply of cabbage.]

In some respects I thought life is a bit like that show, Let's Make a Deal – you make trades throughout your life. And the question is, what kinds of trades are you going to make? Are they fortuitous or not? And the difference, however, between life and that show is that you know what's behind the curtain. People will tell you what's behind the curtain. You get to make a trade, but you make it with your eyes open. You're not blind, and so you're making choices now, and you will make choices over the coming years, and you know what the consequences of good choices or bad choices will be.

Finish high school, it's worth about a million bucks. If you go on to college, and you're able to be successful in completing college, the increase throughout your life in earnings will be even larger.

There are some other trades you make. If you get hooked on drugs, and your life's income and your happiness quotient will go right down to the basement.

Just a thought: In a speech before 3,000 young people, the man who wants to increase the size of the military by 100,000 did not call upon them to serve their country in any way. Except if you count the Boy Scouts.