OK, so. In the United States we’re fighting about how to deal with the economy, including spending, health care, and all that kind of thing.
If you look at me, I’m considered pretty well educated, reasonably knowledgeable on current events and, unbelievably, a relatively smart guy (if I’m above average, how awful must average be?) But it’s obvious (to me) I don’t have the education or knowledge to have an opinion that’s worth anything. I doubt half of Congress has done sufficient research either, along with 80% of the people that are so sure they know which direction the country should go.
And among the people that know enough to have a decent opinion, they have different points of view because there are reasonable arguments to be made supporting their conflicting opinions.
Economics is not like engineering or (certain) mathematics. We can’t develop precise models and there will always be uncertainty.
I’ve just had it up to here with “liberals are fascist pinko commies” and “conservatives hate the poor and the black”.
i’m waiting for the day when being middle of the road doesn’t mean I’m a wishy washy namby pamby.
What’s a black?
Our political discourse has become oversimplified to the point where if you don’t agree with my you are insert evil mean spirited name here.
The problem with that of course is that once I have labeled you my enemy we can no longer work together which is what our representative should be doing.
Rome 360AD. The empire is about to fall (410 I believe) you have to figure some folks had to have seen it coming, maybe not right away but they could have guessed it was going to happen in their lifetime. That’s the way I feel sometimes about our government. We have made enemies of one another to the point where our “leader’s” can no longer be effective.
Agreed. I have made some efforts to read more source materials, eg I have looked for policies & positions Sarah Palin actually written about, watched some C-SPAN coverage of Senate debate (boy was that disappointing), started reading Ayn Rand, read more about what socialism is and isn’t.
Somebody recently described Americans as “cognitive misers”, characterized by our unwilligness to expose ourselves to views contrary to our own.