Else It Is None

Molly Ball wrote  an article forThe Atlantic website that shows the latest polling numbers explaining what voters want from a "fiscal cliff" deal: Americans want a deal that reduces the deficit, raises taxes on the wealthy, and doesn't cut entitlement benefits. But most of all, they want compromise That is to say, Americans want the problem solved but they want someone else to pay for it.  This does not surprise me.  It does not trouble me much either.  In a culture driven by consumerism, people desire bargains including policy.  I would prefer they wanted a prudent solution (whatever that is) rather than a simulacrum of "bipartisanship."  History, however, holds too many examples of popularly supported offal to hold much hope in that regard.   Something does trouble me though.  Perhaps availability bias is at play here but I feel a creeping reliance on poll numbers in analyzing the prudence of policy.  As though popular suppo...

"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The   Dark Knight Rises Many Progressives are jubilant over Barack Obama's reelection.  And yet, they should be mourning the unceremonious demise of the Hope and Change promised in the 2008 election. This Democratic election effort proved that a party cannot win multiple elections unless it fights dirty. This, to me, is Obama's legacy, unintentional though it may be. The incentives and structure of the election process are so well entrenched, that not even the best of us can resist the temptation and, worse, the need to employ morally distasteful tactics. Obama and Democrats rode into office in 2008/2009 on the wave of public disillusionment with "politics as usual." Four years later, they were politics as usual's number one fans. How can anyone see this as anything but Anakin Skywalker's transformation into Darth Vader? Isn't this exac...