Common Sense Folly
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
“The earth has always been the center of the universe”, common sense, circa 1508.
“We can tell if someone is a witch by throwing them in the river to see if they float”, common sense, circa 1708.
“Nothing will ever replace the horse and buggy”, common sense, circa 1908.
“Our government needs to take a more common sense approach to solving problems”, nonsense, circa 2008.
Science v. Mythology
“Common sense” is a phrase from those comfortable old TV shows like Father Knows Best. “Common sense”, as in “You small children have no common sense. Why not let daddy take care of everything for you?” In a democracy, the people know best.
Fortunately we already have an excellent tool which we can use to evaluate and improve public programs. It’s called scientific analysis and design. High school students know all about it. You develop a hypothesis. You test the hypothesis, measure the results and then make conclusions.
American engineers don’t rely on common sense to build bridges, cars or spaceships. Americans politicians rely on common sense to mislead voters about what’s best for our country.
Proof v. Theory
In the US, politicians will say anything to convince us to ignore facts. If a group of efficiency experts recommend closing some Air Force bases, then the representatives from the districts where those bases are located will tell everyone that the experts got it all wrong. That’s why voters must be especially vigilant about identifying objective standards which all public officials must follow. Spin has no place in good government.
Long term solutions don’t sell in today’s political marketplace. Every new Congress adopts a fresh agenda. Priorities shift every time the presidency changes hands. Programs that take 10 years to show clear results have no chance in this environment. But we still need to find durable solutions to our nation’s chronic problems.
Democratic presidential candidate
Like many other nations, Brazil faced an energy crisis in the 1970’s. Unlike the others however, Brazil had the foresight to establish a long term strategy for eliminating their countries’ dependence on foreign oil.
The United States could have obtained energy independence by now as well, but our politics won’t allow it. We’re lousy at implementing
Armies have fought wars over small strips of land for centuries in the Middle East. Battles seem to break out in an instance while lasting peace agreements take years to develop. Iraq won’t become a stable democracy any time soon. The
The outpouring of support for the victims of the