In Oscar Wilde’s 1895 comedy The Importance of Being Earnest, the epigram-spouting Lady Bracknell is told by Jack Worthing, her daughter’s suitor, that he’s lost both his parents. To this, the lady replies imperiously: "To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." I thought of Lady Bracknell this week on learning that Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has now let not one but two pro-union bills tiptoe past him to win a House floor vote.
