oh i think that people do learn, everybody learns, it’s just that some people are more like experimental physicists. let me explain:
In physics, there are mostly two branches: theoretical physics (which makes predictions and does mathematical calculations on paper) and experimental physics (which touches things with their hands, does experiments and observes the outcome). the same is true in politics:
Some people see a situation, think about it, do some guesswork and write articles, discuss with friends what would probably be the outcome if a certain policy is implemented, then decide whether it’s a good idea to implement that policy or not. Other people, however, take the opposite approach: implement the policy first, then wait and watch what happens. That’s the experimental approach: do things and figure out the hard way. That’s exactly what happens in politics. people vote for austerity politics, and for a while it goes well, until suddenly it doesn’t anymore. then people crash and society suffers, and people observe this and then conclude that these policies did in fact not work well. that’s when they learn. after harm has been done, and they’ve experienced it themselves.
If only we had decades and decades and decades of this “research” already done in the form of countless hopelessly failed “experiments”… Oh wait. We do.
Sorry, but no. You don’t get excused because you ignored everyone who told you that THIS SHIT HAS BEEN TRIED AND IT DOESN’T WORK.
You don’t get to ruin people’s lives simply because you’re incapable of learning something without doing it yourself.
What actually happens is rich Conservatives, in the Edmond Burke mold, use some grievance, real or imaginary, to worm their way into power.
Once in power they start doing two main things, the first is to rob the government blind, transferring wealth from public good programs to themselves via things like defense contracts or sueing the government you control for billions of dollars.
The second thing they do is implement some sort of restrictive law or policy that is designed to hurt one group of people more than everyone else, dividing people from each other and amplifying the hatred of the worst assholes around.
Eventually the conservative is ousted, usually after crashing the economy. But usually enough conservatives remain in power to stymie any actual reforms that would actually fix all the problems that they caused.
oh i think that people do learn, everybody learns, it’s just that some people are more like experimental physicists. let me explain:
In physics, there are mostly two branches: theoretical physics (which makes predictions and does mathematical calculations on paper) and experimental physics (which touches things with their hands, does experiments and observes the outcome). the same is true in politics:
Some people see a situation, think about it, do some guesswork and write articles, discuss with friends what would probably be the outcome if a certain policy is implemented, then decide whether it’s a good idea to implement that policy or not. Other people, however, take the opposite approach: implement the policy first, then wait and watch what happens. That’s the experimental approach: do things and figure out the hard way. That’s exactly what happens in politics. people vote for austerity politics, and for a while it goes well, until suddenly it doesn’t anymore. then people crash and society suffers, and people observe this and then conclude that these policies did in fact not work well. that’s when they learn. after harm has been done, and they’ve experienced it themselves.
If only we had decades and decades and decades of this “research” already done in the form of countless hopelessly failed “experiments”… Oh wait. We do.
Sorry, but no. You don’t get excused because you ignored everyone who told you that THIS SHIT HAS BEEN TRIED AND IT DOESN’T WORK.
You don’t get to ruin people’s lives simply because you’re incapable of learning something without doing it yourself.
That’s a nice sounding line of bullshit.
What actually happens is rich Conservatives, in the Edmond Burke mold, use some grievance, real or imaginary, to worm their way into power.
Once in power they start doing two main things, the first is to rob the government blind, transferring wealth from public good programs to themselves via things like defense contracts or sueing the government you control for billions of dollars.
The second thing they do is implement some sort of restrictive law or policy that is designed to hurt one group of people more than everyone else, dividing people from each other and amplifying the hatred of the worst assholes around.
Eventually the conservative is ousted, usually after crashing the economy. But usually enough conservatives remain in power to stymie any actual reforms that would actually fix all the problems that they caused.
And no, people never fucking learn.