the masses have been conditioned to love this blood-soaked beast and even, if called upon, to lay down their lives and the lives of their children on its behalf. From my vantage point on the outside, peering in, I am perpetually mystified that so many people are taken in by the phony claims and obscurantist party rhetoric. As the song says, “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,” but unlike the fellow in the song, I am not “stuck in the middle.” --- ditto
On Oct 19, 10:33 am, "M. Johnson" <[email protected]> wrote: > An Enormously Inefficient Allocation of HatredPosted byKaren De Costeron > October 17, 2009 04:24 PM > The amazing Robert Higgsin a recent blog post: “Partisan Politics A Fool’s > Game for the Masses.”Yet, rather than hating the predatory state, the masses > have been conditioned to love this blood-soaked beast and even, if called > upon, to lay down their lives and the lives of their children on its behalf. > From my vantage point on the outside, peering in, I am perpetually mystified > that so many people are taken in by the phony claims and obscurantist party > rhetoric. As the song says, “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right,” > but unlike the fellow in the song, I am not “stuck in the middle.” Instead, I > float above all of this wasted emotion, looking down on it with disgust and > sadness. Moreover, as an economist, I am compelled to regret such an > enormously inefficient allocation of hatred.This is a magnificent column on > the two-party system, and Higgs explores how each party engenders hatred in > order to, as Higgs notes, “distract people from the overriding reality of > political life, which is that the state and its principal supporters are > constantly screwing the rest of us, regardless of which party happens to > control the presidency and the Congress.” This piece is remarkably smashing, > unyielding, and, asCharles Burriswrote me to say, very Mencken-esque. > Higgs hit near and dear to my heart with his follow-up to that column, > “Diagnostics and Therapeutics in Political Economy.” Invariably, whenever I > write about the state and all of its coercive tactics and fraudulent dealings > and policymaking, I get the emails from readers: “Well, how do we fix it?” > “What’s your solution?” I even hear, “Why do you write these commentaries > without giving solutions?” Then people tell me to never write about a problem > without including a way to solve it. Very often, these comments from from > political party types, like LP’ers, who love to dabble in groupthink solution > sessions. I actually don’t think that an opinion column, an analytical piece, > or a diagnostic commentary necessary needs to be followed by a > solutions-based report suggesting how to undo the the whole mess in two > paragraphs or less. Nor do I wish to turn each commentary into 12,000 words, > plunging readers into an unexpected nap. A commentary is not necessarily a > policy report. Moreover, as Higgs writes:Although I would be the last to > assert that I have a claim on anyone’s time or attention, I believe that the > solution-demanding response to my commentaries (or anyone else’s) betrays a > confusion between diagnostics and therapeutics in political economy. The > former focuses on finding the causes of a condition or development, the > latter on prescribing measures by which the condition can be lessened or > eliminated. This distinction is common in the medical profession, where some > practitioners specialize in diagnosis and others in various kinds of therapy. > In political economy, however, the two activities are often combined. In > professional economics journals, countless articles have been published in > which the author first lays out his “model,” sometimes presents empirical > “tests” of some of its implications, and finally draws “policy conclusions” > that is, unsolicited advice to government functionaries as to how they should > employ their powers.…Analysts of the political economy, such as yours truly, > may have some capacity to open people’s eyes with regard to the government’s > true nature and its actual operation. Such diagnostic work is a full-time > job, however, so consumers of this analysis should not be surprised if a > diagnostician cannot prescribe a sure-fire cure whenever he identifies, > describes, or analyzes a problem.Read the rest. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
