Life is so much simpler outside of Washington D.C. Everywhere except for our nations capital one plus one equals two, the sun rises in the east and a $3.9 trillion federal budget is soul-crushingly large. Not so on the Potomac, where life is so complicated that naïve Republican law-makers don't even know how to compile a budget. That's according a patronizing report by AP writer Andrew Taylor.

I won't excerpt the article, as the Associated Press insists on charging for even snippets of its drivel (which, of course, is their right), but I think I can effectively summarize.

Mr. Taylor reports that the conservative Republican House members have forced the party leadership back to the budget drawing board. According to Taylor, the conservatives wouldn't knowingly do such a thing, it's just they really don't understand the budget or how much their constituents love all the programs being cut. (See paragraph 10 of the article.)

Just a bunch of stupid Tea Party candidates who, by accident of history, are deciding matters that are way over their head. Right?

Maybe.

Or maybe it's the D.C. media, lobbyists, politicians, bureaucrats, groupies and yes-men that have no clue. Maybe a near $4 trillion dollar federal budget (equivalent to the third largest economy in the world behind Japan and China) and $1.4 trillion deficit (good to make it into the top ten largest economies) is leading to American decline. Maybe the average citizen won't even notice a 2.56% ($100 billion) decrease in federal spending. Maybe voters sent those Republicans to force these very types of budge cuts. Maybe the conservatives are right.

And, perhaps most important, maybe Washington isn't so complicated after all.