Political jargon over the last decade has given us a new understanding of an old term. The term is ‘safety net.’

My first recollection of a safety net was at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus when it was still performing under the big top. Who could forget those daring acrobats balanced on the trapeze or high wire and, under them, a net. When the act was finished they would fall gracefully from their lofty perch into the open arms of the net, a kind of tease, I suppose, a hint of the terror of even the slightest slip or false step. Occasionally there was a daredevil who would work without a net, and the drum would roll, and people would gasp, a few would scream. I never saw a performer injured in a real fall, although I have read that it happens. Today, with the cement an…