I think this underlines the American capacity to generate political good sense. Now I know for many that's an oxymoron, but it's only arrived at that unwelcome status because of the raucous behaviour of the bear-pit celebrity politicians, whose acumen I have yet to uncover. Nevertheless, that's the noise that's obscured the real sounds of a healthy American body politic. One that's decorous, civil, shorn of any flim-flam, and straight to the point.

I love this example that I spotted in an article in tonight's Standard about Elizabeth Warren, the Democratic senatorial candidate for Massachusetts; it's perfect, it's also an excellent instance of exactly why tax is good, and takes the wind out of the self-appointed all government is bad, head bangers. I'll let her words take over now: "You built a factory out there? Good for you. But I want to be clear: you moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for; you hired the workers the rest of us paid to educate; you were safe in your factory because of the police and fire departments the rest of us paid for. You did n't have to worry that marauding bands would would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did".

There's more: "Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific? Keep a big hunk of it. But a part of the underlying social contract is that you take a hunk of that and pay for the next kid who comes along"

Smart, smart words. We need a Brit Politico who can deliver something as crisp and to the point, where are they?