Miscellaneous
3/5/2021 - In what is likely the first of many, I attempt to synthesize a few articles I stumbled over that play into why democracy isn't a governing system that can work in practice. First, we talk about Jay Nordlinger's piece in National Review, "How Populist's Talk". This raises meta points about how aesthetics and optics are inherently integral to democracy - and they keep main stream discourse at a low level. Then, we discuss some of Saul Alinsky's (in)famous "Rules for Radicals" that are listed here. Many of these tactics intentionally stunt intellectual curiosity. In the means of straddling the levers of power, it's likely that the effective tactics that are deployed will be misleading and dishonest. Lastly, we visit one of my favorite Cato polls that discusses support for paid family leave. It's interesting to see the support for the policy shift when people have the question framed in terms of trade offs. This reveals that the opinions of people could drastically change if they were informed on issues - but the two aforementioned articles hint at universal political elements that keep people from being informed. Not to mention that there is no real incentive for being politically informed. *** https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2021/03/08/how-populists-talk/#slide-1 https://www.cato.org/survey-reports/poll-74-americans-support-federal-paid-leave-program-when-costs-not-mentioned-60 https://www.openculture.com/2017/02/13-rules-for-radicals.html Twitter @TheObeyPodcast @MatthewTKeck Also, check out "Beyond Talking Points"! Two people with very different political ideologies talk policy and philosophy!