Politicians say “we’re all equal” and pretend that they represent everyone. But in fact, they constantly pick winners and losers. America is now like the place described in George Orwell’s book Animal Farm: “All animals are equal,” but some are “more equal than others.” Animal Farm was about Communism, but today the allegory applies to our bloated democracy, too.

During the “fiscal cliff” negotiations that Congress and the media made sound so tough — as if every last penny were pinched — Congress still managed to slip in plenty of special deals for cronies.