I thought John had the better of that exchange. MAGA was about bumper sticker claims first and then building a rationale for them afterward. A huge part of Trump convention speech was nothing but bumper sticker claims one after another.
Complexity is not always of the left and not always wrong. For example, consider the Reagan Republican-ish arguments about marginal tax rates. There, the simple argument belongs to the liberals ("people who earn more should pay more") and the more complicated but st leadt to some degree correct argument is the old conservative position, which relies on arguments about incentives and economic growth.
I will have to defer to you on Trump's convention speech. I have not heard it. I have not yet had occasion to watch a political convention of any party, attend a rally, etc. (I do see a wealth of bumper stickers, of course, as those as unavoidable.) I have found that rhetoric tends to be an unreliable indicator of policy, even if sincere, and policy is not always a reliable indicator of the ability to successful implement policy. I also believe that the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" is true more often than not, that the devil is often in the details (but not always) and I largely take "The Gods of Copybook Headings" to heart. Since I am waxing metaphorical and dabbling in doggerel, I'll add "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. (Those who do learn from history will find new mistakes to make.)"
Who has learned what about which and how the Gods of the Copybook Headings will continue to weigh in remains to be seen. In my mind, the key question now is not so much about rhetoric, complexity, "ease" or even policy (though that remains important); the key question is about resilience in the face of adversity. Give me that, and I will happily debate all the rest. Fail in that, and the rest won't matter much.
I thought John had the better of that exchange. MAGA was about bumper sticker claims first and then building a rationale for them afterward. A huge part of Trump convention speech was nothing but bumper sticker claims one after another.
Complexity is not always of the left and not always wrong. For example, consider the Reagan Republican-ish arguments about marginal tax rates. There, the simple argument belongs to the liberals ("people who earn more should pay more") and the more complicated but st leadt to some degree correct argument is the old conservative position, which relies on arguments about incentives and economic growth.
Michael,
I will have to defer to you on Trump's convention speech. I have not heard it. I have not yet had occasion to watch a political convention of any party, attend a rally, etc. (I do see a wealth of bumper stickers, of course, as those as unavoidable.) I have found that rhetoric tends to be an unreliable indicator of policy, even if sincere, and policy is not always a reliable indicator of the ability to successful implement policy. I also believe that the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" is true more often than not, that the devil is often in the details (but not always) and I largely take "The Gods of Copybook Headings" to heart. Since I am waxing metaphorical and dabbling in doggerel, I'll add "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat its mistakes. (Those who do learn from history will find new mistakes to make.)"
Who has learned what about which and how the Gods of the Copybook Headings will continue to weigh in remains to be seen. In my mind, the key question now is not so much about rhetoric, complexity, "ease" or even policy (though that remains important); the key question is about resilience in the face of adversity. Give me that, and I will happily debate all the rest. Fail in that, and the rest won't matter much.