Each year, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky releases a report entitled the “Festivus’ Report on Government Waste.” He catalogs different projects that the federal government has used taxpayer dollars on that, in Paul’s estimation, is not a wise use of tax payer funds.Many of these projects are funded through various scientific laboratories and, upon reading the list, looks eerily similar to the adventures of Lemuel Gulliver in Gulliver’s Travels, a work of satire by the 18th-century writer Jonathan Swift.

In the episode, Matt, Winston, and Josh play a game in which they guess whether or not the experiment is from Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” or from Rand Paul’s Festivus Report. Then, the group discuss the larger implications of satire and the purposes of scientific investigation. In short, they follow the purposes of satire itself: they use works of classical literature to try and better understand our own culture and our own foibles.

For a copy of this year's Festivus' Report (and others), click on this link here: https://www.paul.senate.gov/?s=festivus