A decade ago, President Barack Obama revealed one of the chief tenets of his foreign policy: "Don't do stupid stuff."  He really didn't say "stuff," but he was spot on. Obviously, stupidity has limited appeal (the ratings of some TV reality shows notwithstanding).
 

The hard part is seeing which actions are stupid before we engage in them. Is there a human alive who hasn't muttered "it seemed like a good idea at the time" while dealing with heaps of regret? Sometimes the culprit is "mission creep."  The phrase comes from the military, where students of strategy warn that initial success often tempts leaders to expand the scope of an operation beyond a force's capabilities, sometimes leading to mission failure (occasionally with terrible consequences).
 

We see this regularly in the policy sphere, too — and we may see it again soon. Though Gov. Wes Moore has warned about multi-billion dollar structural deficits for months now, and state government revenue forecasts are revised downward on the regular, many legislators seem not only eager to shovel $400 million at a dying industry — the ponies! — but also to enter that industry just in time for its slide into oblivion. This is mission creep on steroids.

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