The Parable of the Model of Car a Car Salesperson Sold

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, do the congressional Republicans actually know what it is they want from the budget negotiations?”

Josh spoke thus:

A car salesperson was deciding what model of car to buy, the model of car the car salesperson sold, or the model of car the car salesman wanted.

“You want this car,” the car salesperson said to a customer, while trying to decide what model of car to buy, “There’s nothing in this car’s class quite like this car.”

The customer asked the car salesperson what mileage the model of car the car salesperson sold got.  The car salesperson told the customer what mileage the model of car the car salesperson sold got.  Or perhaps the car salesperson told the customer the mileage that the car the salesperson wanted to buy got.  The car salesperson got the two confused sometimes.

The customer said that the mileage figure the car salesperson quoted for the model of car the car salesperson sold was a good figure.  The customer asked whether the mileage the car salesperson quoted for the model of car the car salesperson sold was the best mileage in the class of car that the model of car the car salesperson sold was in.  The car salesperson assured the customer that the mileage that the car salesperson had quoted for the model of car the car salesperson sold was the best figure in the class of car the model of car the car salesperson sold was in.

The car salesperson didn’t tell the customer that the car salesperson couldn’t remember whether the mileage figure that the car salesperson quoted for the model of car the car salesperson sold was the mileage figure for the model of car that the car salesperson sold or was the mileage figure for the model of car the car salesperson wanted.  The car salesperson could honestly say, though, that the mileage the car salesperson had quoted for the model of car the car salesperson sold was the best mileage of any car in the class of car the model of car the car salesperson sold was in.

The customer asked about the leg room for the model of car the car salesperson sold, both front leg room and rear leg room.  The car salesperson gave the customer the leg room figures for  what was either the model of car that the car salesperson sold or the model of car the car salesperson wanted.  The car salesperson similarly gave the customer information about the power, the options, the color choices, even the price of what the car salesperson wasn’t sure was the model of car the car salesperson sold or the model of car the car salesperson wanted.

The car salesperson sold the customer a car that was the model of car the car salesperson sold.  The car salesperson’s boss told the car salesperson that the car salesperson had done a great job selling the customer the model of car the car salesperson sold.

The car salesperson was certain that the car salesperson had done a great job of selling the customer a model of car.  The car salesperson was less certain whether the car salesperson had done a great job of selling the customer the model of car the car salesperson sold or a bad job of selling the customer the model of car the car salesperson wanted.

The one thing the car salesperson did know was that the money the car salesperson would earn as the car salesperson’s commission for selling the model of car the car salesperson sold would be the final amount of money the car salesperson needed to buy either the model of car the car salesperson sold or the model of car the car salesperson wanted.

All the car salesperson had to do now was decide whether to buy the model of car the car salesperson sold or the model of car the car salesperson wanted.

The car salesperson felt empowered.