tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post8482332923915378142..comments2024-03-28T19:52:27.301-05:00Comments on Althouse: "We should immediately distinguish between paternalism about means and paternalism about ends."Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-51990103502819464612013-04-09T07:07:23.333-05:002013-04-09T07:07:23.333-05:00Terry said...
The GPS analogy is apt because Sunns... Terry said...<br />The GPS analogy is apt because Sunnstein assumes that we already know where to go, we just need good directions.<br />Knowing where we want to go is the hardest part. Despite what most of the Left (and some of the Right) think, political decisions are not obvious or easy, or they would be obvious and easy.<br /><br />I think he's assuming everyone is clueless, like he is, without a GPS. Maps are your friend.Rustyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00938263272237104128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-59610964553946063122013-04-08T21:52:43.661-05:002013-04-08T21:52:43.661-05:00"The behaviorists such as Prof. Sunnstein sti..."The behaviorists such as Prof. Sunnstein still have not addressed the point that regulators are just as subject to bias, incompetence, irrationality, emotion, and self-interest as anyone else."<br /><br />Exactly. And since their "theoretician" has actually worked in government, I'd like to see him judged an this actual work.<br /><br />He did basically very little to remove useless regulations. IOW, he is a sham.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04438466605029568462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-1778987133585673262013-04-08T21:42:11.011-05:002013-04-08T21:42:11.011-05:00These people are collectivists. They live to manag...These people are collectivists. They live to manage the hive and keep the queen happy. They have no soul and they could care less about the drones. Resistance is futile. Just be assimilated. Whatever happened to the individual rights Democrats?Patrick Henry was right!https://www.blogger.com/profile/13098596628652544686noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-65944528883800559132013-04-08T20:48:58.341-05:002013-04-08T20:48:58.341-05:00The behaviorists such as Prof. Sunnstein still hav...The behaviorists such as Prof. Sunnstein still have not addressed the point that regulators are just as subject to bias, incompetence, irrationality, emotion, and self-interest as anyone else. Douglas B. Levenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07916420802096618688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-33323960736209612082013-04-08T18:38:26.606-05:002013-04-08T18:38:26.606-05:00He should be filled up with Jack Daniels and sent ...He should be filled up with Jack Daniels and sent to Sturgis.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-42142618024561789542013-04-08T16:54:46.008-05:002013-04-08T16:54:46.008-05:00Sunstein is acknowledging (or admitting) that our ...Sunstein is acknowledging (or admitting) that our education system has incidentally or intentionally failed to prepare our children to be productive members of society and incapable of competing with rest of the world.<br /><br />It's paternalism -- for survivors of abortion -- from birth to grave. It is a perpetual denial of individual dignity from conception to grave.n.nhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04252447117532342957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22593416045924880252013-04-08T15:13:34.123-05:002013-04-08T15:13:34.123-05:00I just found out my GPS is a bullshit detector. It...I just found out my GPS is a bullshit detector. It's telling me to steer clear of Cass Sunstein.<br />It also translates: it tells me when he says simpler he means complicated.Astrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03588265716990310130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-57078124266834313182013-04-08T15:05:20.643-05:002013-04-08T15:05:20.643-05:00The GPS analogy is apt because Sunnstein assumes t...The GPS analogy is apt because Sunnstein assumes that we already know where to go, we just need good directions.<br />Knowing where we want to go is the hardest part. Despite what most of the Left (and some of the Right) think, political decisions are not obvious or easy, or they would be obvious and easy.Lewis Wetzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01200232293505119133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-67402906467835859262013-04-08T15:02:21.172-05:002013-04-08T15:02:21.172-05:00Bruce,
"Sunstein's heart is in the right...Bruce,<br /><br />"<i>Sunstein's heart is in the right place,</i>"<br /><br />I most strenuously disagree.<br />Kirk Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05921711310191924997noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-24007344537408978662013-04-08T13:54:49.069-05:002013-04-08T13:54:49.069-05:00My hope is that it would be alright with Susstein ...My hope is that it would be alright with Susstein if I wiped my ass without his help, but experience has shown that he'd have to, just couldn't help himself and would have to regulate the number of wipes and the tissue count per wipe.ricpichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01321511130788764861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-3759644846090060942013-04-08T13:46:46.045-05:002013-04-08T13:46:46.045-05:00His fuel-economy example is interesting, because r...His fuel-economy example is interesting, because right from the start of this sort of paternalism it had undesired effects <br />a) shifting consumers into light trucks that were pound-for-pound less efficient and less safe than the large cars they replaced, and <br />b) the measure has been corrupted by interest groups seeking to promote their own stuff. So the MPG rating of electric cars is not a true reflection of their life-cycle costs or consumer cost, because the regulators have determined a formula that works politically.Douglas2https://www.blogger.com/profile/18142485990801143191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-26361037413781053612013-04-08T13:39:42.394-05:002013-04-08T13:39:42.394-05:00Traditionalguy wrote:
That is only the old control...Traditionalguy wrote:<br /><i>That is only the old control to dominate witchcraft dressed up in Scientific Talk.</i><br /><br />Witchcraft is right, it's reasoning based on gnostic, aka 'hidden' knowledge.<br /><br />Higher level scientific teaching builds on the foundation of lower level scientific teaching. Gnostic knowledge doesn't build incrementally. What you learn as an advanced student upends what you learned as a beginning student.<br />So beginning economics students are taught about the efficiency of the market. Advanced students are taught that the market is not efficient at all because it leaves human desires unfulfilled. <br />Ditto political science: first you are taught that politics is the way people create and empower collective institutions. Advanced poli-sci people think it's about building a better world.<br />One style of knowledge is descriptive. It's about reality. The other is prescriptive. It's about values, and there is nothing rational about values.Lewis Wetzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01200232293505119133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-37778289947930224862013-04-08T13:24:46.959-05:002013-04-08T13:24:46.959-05:00I'm pretty sure he wants paternalism on both m...I'm pretty sure he wants paternalism on both means and ends.Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-36644278232422775902013-04-08T12:58:41.697-05:002013-04-08T12:58:41.697-05:00You can make cars get 50 MPG but engineering is al...You can make cars get 50 MPG but engineering is all about tradeoffs.<br /><br />Exactly.<br />Hence the "smart car"<br />I don't care how many airbags it's got. When an F350 rolls over you, you're a dead person packed in airbags.<br />Rustyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00938263272237104128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-65035392690323264262013-04-08T12:57:43.705-05:002013-04-08T12:57:43.705-05:00You can make cars get 50 MPG but engineering is al...You can make cars get 50 MPG but engineering is all about tradeoffs.<br /><br />Exactly.<br />Hence the "smart car"<br />I don't care how many airbags it's got. When an F350 rolls over you, you're a dead person packed in airbags.<br />Rustyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00938263272237104128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-5687411987335354722013-04-08T12:55:29.189-05:002013-04-08T12:55:29.189-05:00"No one who places so little value on the ide..."No one who places so little value on the idea of freedom has their heart in the right place. I think Sunstein's heart is somewhere in his colon, and his balls are in a jar in some paternalistic federal agency somewhere."<br /><br />I think the truth is a bit more boring than that. Sunstein is a professor, and professors always have the right answer. Making it worse, he considers himself an expert at economic analysis, which is all about what rational actors should choose (always the 'efficient' result). His idea of paternalism takes as its model the typical academic setting: professor professing to a bunch of students, where the undergrads are annoyingly ill prepared and the grad students are gratingly obsequious (for career advancing reasons). If you prefer, Sunstein inhabits a Platonic universe; the rest of us are living in a different reality.Richard Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12735773524374061429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-48269277028910492382013-04-08T12:44:29.303-05:002013-04-08T12:44:29.303-05:00It is all a shell game. Whatever decision he makes...It is all a shell game. Whatever decision he makes is the right one, and whatever decision you make is the wrong one.<br /><br />That is not Paternalism. That is only the old control to dominate witchcraft dressed up in Scientific Talk.traditionalguyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05706120413005530014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-14608108978933066802013-04-08T12:35:43.189-05:002013-04-08T12:35:43.189-05:00There is something about Cass Sunstein's style...There is something about Cass Sunstein's style of argumentation that makes me wonder at how much naivete he can embed into each sentence.<br /><br />Most grating.<br /><br />And his view of reality resembles that of a blind man being told of the elephant by an autistic.Cincinnatushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10424218376882403880noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-19535258174613026782013-04-08T12:31:53.147-05:002013-04-08T12:31:53.147-05:00Terry said...
Since Sunnstein is all about counti...<i>Terry said... <br />Since Sunnstein is all about counting the "true costs" of consumer decisions, he should be held to that standard. Every time he opens his yap he should be made to justify the deaths of the innocents that will result from his 'paternalism'.<br /><br />The reason consumers are more trustworthy than the government to make these decisions is because they will be held accountable for them. Sunnstein will not.</i><br /><br />Hold Sunnstein accountable? Why, that's crazy talk! He means well, mouths all the right platitudes and is likely a snappy dresser with an Ivy League background. Why should he possibly be held accountable for higher costs, decreased utility and increased fatalities? By the time we suffer those losses, he'll have moved on to other mandates to force down our throats.Larry Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07005320430740976182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-54771794081122328542013-04-08T12:11:22.562-05:002013-04-08T12:11:22.562-05:00What a boob, a know nothing if his best argument i...What a boob, a know nothing if his best argument is a gps. On the road they are terrible (great at sea though), road gps will constantly send you the worst way. Learn to read a map and make an intelligent analysis. timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06686937304021446157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-39114660642503908492013-04-08T11:57:55.508-05:002013-04-08T11:57:55.508-05:00Ends paternalism = nanny state
Means paternalism ...Ends paternalism = nanny state<br /><br />Means paternalism = naggy state.<br /><br />Got it.AlanKHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00415873942467466303noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-86044398805650179362013-04-08T11:53:50.470-05:002013-04-08T11:53:50.470-05:00Larry J. wrote:
More likely, you'll have to do...Larry J. wrote:<br /><i>More likely, you'll have to do all of those things. The price will go up and the utility will go down. The death rate will likely also increase once again, too.</i><br /><br />Since Sunnstein is all about counting the "true costs" of consumer decisions, he should be held to that standard. Every time he opens his yap he should be made to justify the deaths of the innocents that will result from his 'paternalism'.<br />The reason consumers are more trustworthy than the government to make these decisions is because they will be held accountable for them. Sunnstein will not.Lewis Wetzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01200232293505119133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-2884204631306369162013-04-08T11:44:55.242-05:002013-04-08T11:44:55.242-05:00If Sunstein had predicted fracking and the fact th...If Sunstein had predicted fracking and the fact that the US now produces more oil than the Saudis, I would listen to him. He didn't and I don't.Michael Khttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18127450762129879267noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-78888988952548965422013-04-08T11:43:29.550-05:002013-04-08T11:43:29.550-05:00Rusty said...
I like how the state is going to ma...<i>Rusty said... <br />I like how the state is going to mandate that automobiles get 50 miles to the gallon by a certain date.<br /><br />"Make it so No. 2!"</i><br /><br />Government mandates force people to do things against their will. People make all sorts of unapproved decisions and they don't coincide with what the central planners want. So, instead of convincing people to change their minds, the central planners change the law.<br /><br />You can make cars get 50 MPG but engineering is all about tradeoffs.<br /><br />You can make cars lighter to increase the mileage by going to more advanced materials but that will drive up the cost. You can also lower the weight by reducing the structure but that will lead to more injuries and deaths. There's a reason why no one sells cars like the old Geo Metro anymore. Not only did few people buy them when they were being sold, they don't meet today's federal crashworthiness standards nor did they have all those airbags.<br /><br />You can increase the use of hybrid technology but that will drive up the cost.<br /><br />You can do things like try to squeeze a little more efficiency out of gas engines (good luck with that), improve the aerodynamics a bit more, and improve along the margins to get a bit better mileage. You can reduce the engine horsepower but some people actually use their vehicles to accomplish work and they need the power.<br /><br />More likely, you'll have to do all of those things. The price will go up and the utility will go down. The death rate will likely also increase once again, too.Larry Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07005320430740976182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-48854409359654422502013-04-08T11:41:49.656-05:002013-04-08T11:41:49.656-05:00He writes like a girl.He writes like a girl.madAsHellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01149940549262340795noreply@blogger.com