Since Ben and I have talked about Mathew Yglesias a bit and referenced him in the e-mail chain that led to this blog, I thought I should link something of him to get a bit of discussion going:
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/07/ben-nelson-attributes-his-zeal-for-defending-the-interests-of-rich-people-to-the-public-at-large.php
He discuses one of the problems of our government and more practically as one of the major obstacles of getting Obama's reforms passed: the lazyness and general inertia of senators in particular to get off their asses. Yglesias picks on conservative demoracts in particular, but I think the same thing could be said for all moderates, even the republicans. Surely there are some republicans that would support health care reform in some way, but the all at like the probelm is so damn hard and huge so they never begin anything.
Anyway, i guess the question is, how can we change this aspect of the US political system? I would venture to sy that this sort of inertia (for lack of a better word) is intrinsic in many governments, but I'll leave that kind of statement to the political scientists. Are there practical measures to be taken to minimize this sort of behaviour? Is it even undesirable for the government to be like this sometimes
(hopefully not all the time, right?)?
out..
I'm not totally sure what problem you mean: the tendency of senators in *your* government to ignore data (or just not look for it) and go with their gut, or their desire to crowd near the centre. If the former, I'd say that they might very well be aware of the data and just avoid saying what they really think. Sound bytes work both ways, and nobody wants to be (mis)quoted during campaign season with a line implying that taxes are okay, good, or even necessary. Until more people do their homework, elected politicians must be careful. If the latter, I'd say the centre is a safe place to be: you're harder to attack, and can pitch all others as extremists of one stripe or another. I think the solution would be similar though, i.e. that people should be prepared for hard truths (e.g. improvement is possible, but it'll cost ya), and politicians should be prepared, if not obliged, to give it to 'em straight. I just think given our individual capacities for denial (What do you mean? French fries are a vegetable!), we're not going to get very far on that first count. On the second, an old poli sci prof of mine used to say that "the only ones willing to apply for the job are the last ones who should be doing it."
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