By Dave Anderson:
In most systems, being able to accurately assess the current trends and extrapolate from known evidence verifiable predictions about the future that are later proven to be correct is a valuable ability. That is not true in our political system. The most notable illustration has been the fact that the only foreign policy voices that have consistently been promoted are the ones who thought invading Iraq in 2003 was a great idea. But it is not limited to foreign policy. Hippie punching is a game of calvinball as the dirty fucking hippies have made the following arguments over the past eighteen months:
- Giving banks tons of money without any preconditions and then trusting the Bush Administration to implement the bail-out is dumb.
- When we are looking at least a 1 Trillion dollar annual output gap for the next couple of years, the greatest risk politically and economically is on not spending enough money on stimulus instead of too much. And BTW, got to spend that money on tangible goods and services (esp. as we can buy a decent infrastructure rebuild fairly cheaply now) and on people with high propensity to consume the marginal dollar. Tax cuts are inefficient in this environment.
- The structural incentives of the GOP caucus and primary electorate makes bi-partisan governing a farce.
- Reconciliation is needed as a viable threat and alternative to move HCR forward.
Yet the hippies are still being punched... wonderfully corrupted OODA loop that will get even worse given the Supreme Court taking us back to the McKinley Era campaign financing system this morning.
Yes, being right, on anything, is bad for your career prospects. What will get you promoted is shilling for what the elites want sold at any given time.
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