Leadership Quote by Norris Cotton

Cotton’s line is a politician’s deadpan warning disguised as a punchline: the room isn’t merely unruly, it’s revisionist. By reaching for the Ten Commandments - arguably the most culturally untouchable rulebook in American public life - he chooses a benchmark that’s supposed to be immune to bargaining. The joke lands because it frames legislative swagger as something so aggressive it would treat even divine law like a budget item.

The intent is practical. Cotton is talking about “the boys” in a moment of institutional momentum, when colleagues are drunk on certainty and speed. It’s a wry way to say: don’t mistake confidence for wisdom; don’t confuse a majority’s appetite with moral clarity. Instead of scolding, he performs genial insider satire, the kind that can circulate inside a caucus without triggering defensiveness. He’s not calling anyone corrupt outright; he’s calling them overconfident enough to vandalize constraints.

Subtext: lawmaking is often presented as reverent stewardship, but Cotton implies it’s closer to committee markup. “Cut them down to seven” echoes the language of trimming, consolidating, streamlining - the technocratic vocabulary that can launder a power grab as efficiency. The Ten Commandments also carries Protestant civic authority; invoking it lets Cotton critique ideological zeal without naming a faction. In mid-century Washington, where religiosity and patriotism were public currencies, the line works as a safe indictment: if they’d edit God, imagine what they’ll do to everyone else.