Bush is fond of saying that he’s earned some political capital and now he’s going to spend it.

Something has been bothering me about this. It’s not my political worries about what he’s going to spend it on, although I do have those worries, and setting aside the issue of whether I think he really has any political capital, something bothers me. I feel a slight internal hitch everytime I hear the word “spend” in that phrase.

I think I’ve figured out what’s bothering me. Capital is (losely) an asset that can be used to create more assets. Money (capital) can be used to buy a machine (a capital good). A machine can be used to make a product that can be sold for money (capital). I’m no economist (nor do I play one on TV), but I think that capital has the notion of investment imbedded in it. Capital is rich in promise. It’s fertile. It’s productive.

Spending, on the other hand, simply means to pay out, expend or use up. There’s no investment or production in spending. When you’ve spent something, it’s gone, exhausted, consumed. Spending has no end or purpose.

Capital should not be spent. It should be used or marshalled or invested or manipulated or saved for a rainy day. If you spend your capital, you’re done — you’ve got nothing left. Game over, man.

Whenever I hear Bush talk about spending his capital, he’s always talking about something pointless or unimportant — his idea that a president must have a relationship with god, or his various proposals for constitutional amendments in pursuit of the culture wars.

Just like after September 11, when he spent America’s moral capital on an unjust war, he’s now intent on spending whatever political capital he has on unjust social agendas.

What a waste.