Posted by
Andrews on Sunday, December 06, 2009 4:32:58 PM
I am sorry to keep inflicting these "wait until tomorrow" posts, but I am afraid I am not up to writing again today. Rather than inflict the subpar post I wrote today on you, I have decided it is best to simply tell you what to anticipate.
Thanks to my responses to comments today I have come up with two posts, as well as a third I was planning this morning:
1. Tough Cases Make Bad Laws - A description of the way that response to "crises" and other politically charged topics (eg. the subprime lending problem, or the oil price spike last year), often results in very bad reforms. This arose because of my discussion of SOX, which arose as an overreaction to the Enron collapse, and is the poster boy for tough cases making bad laws.
2. Distinctions Without Differences - A discussion of the way that many political advocates will draw up meaningless distinctions, or rename ideologies and political initiatives without reason, all to distract opponents into meaningless debates over semantics, rather than allowing them to concentrate on the substantive issues. (Eg. "socialized medicine" becomes "universal access to health care", resulting in arguments over whether the two differ and how, rather than debating the pros and cons of government meddling in health care.)
3. Untitled - An essay warning everyone, but especially those on the right, of the danger of those who advocate things they believe, or provide news they want to hear. As I will argue, every con man wins you over by telling you things you want to hear, and, unfortunately, many on the right are far too ready to believe any bad news they hear about the present administration. Which means we end up wasting time and energy on falsehoods, rather than sticking to the basics. My point being, when you hear something too good (or bad) to be true, it often is, and it is best in politics to greet any news with a hint of skepticism.
In addition, I will try to complete the posts I listed in "
Upcoming Posts", with the exception of "
Bad Economics Part 7", which I completed Friday.
Sorry for all the delays. I certainly hope my health improves soon, but until it does, I am reluctant to write much, as the distraction of pain tends to result in rather poor quality writing. And, while I have certainly let some poor quality slip through in the past, I am reluctant to knowingly send out substandard essays. It is bad enough to let a few through by accident.