Oscar Wilde once famously opined that "there are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it." Some of our conservative friends may be about to learn that lesson the hard way:

Is it good for the republic that serving in Congress must be treated as a full-time job?

Newly elected Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma thinks not. And Coburn, who is also a physician, has already announced he will challenge a long-standing rule that bars him from continuing to practice medicine once he takes the oath of office Tuesday.

A conservative Republican, Coburn has always been a maverick in public life: During six tumultuous years in the House, where he served from 1995 to 2001, he cultivated an image as an angry renegade and a citizen legislator who scorned professional politicians.

But this time, he does not stand alone.

A significant number of conservative political thinkers agree that the country would benefit from a return to the tradition of the public servant who also remains a private citizen. That, it is argued, is the model handed down by the Founding Fathers.

So they say now. But I wonder how Sen. Coburn and the other "conservative political thinkers" mentioned in the piece are going to feel when America's trial lawyers suddenly realize that buying yourself a seat in the House or Senate is no longer a bar to suing the living bejeezus out of corporate America.

Hmmm. . . .

POSTSCRIPT: No , I don't really expect Coburn and Co. to get their way on this one. Still, it's an amusing scenario to ponder, don't you think?