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Stupid Voters?

By Jason Gillikin | February 7, 2010

Jacob Weisberg writes in Slate that “the childishness, ignorance, and growing incoherence of the public at large” is the chief reason that “our political paralysis seems to have gotten so much worse over the past year.”

Weisberg makes a point that has been echoed, more subtly, by President Obama, who has hinted that the reason voters have rejected his health initiative is because they were too dumb to figure out how they’ll benefit from it in the long run. So, in his State of the Union speech, he graciously agreed to accept his ”share of the blame for not explaining it more clearly to the American people” despite that, according to columnist Charles Krauthammer, Obama has given 29 speeches in the last year on the subject of health reform.

Indeed, there is evidence that some Democratic pollsters and activists are encouraging the White House to push ahead on the health bill despite its toxicity at the polls, on the theory that once it’s signed into law people will start to like it.

Who knows?  Perhaps the Kool-Aid drinkers are correct. After all, as Weisberg notes, Medicare was unpopular when it passed but now seniors cling to it like lawyers to an ambulance.

My current vade mecum text is On Democracyby political scientist Robert Dahl. Dahl argues that one of the five main criteria of a democracy is that the electorate be sufficiently informed, with access to solid data with which to make reasonable decisions about matters of public significance.

It is intriguing that the media — Did I fail to mention that Weisberg is the editor-in-chief of Slate? — has picked up the people-as-rubes trope and now suggest, ala New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, that the Democrats should simply force a health bill irrespective of the wishes of a public that is, in their consensus view, too uninformed and excitable to appreciate the benefits of Obama-style reform.

Blaming the voter for being too stupid to know what’s good for him is a timeworn elitist attack on democracy, but surely we have outgrown it by now. After all, the media and the Democrats have prided themselves as being something of a voice for the common man. So if the public speaks and it’s not in the voice of the elite consensus position, then golly — the people are insufficiently informed. And if more and more and more information doesn’t change their perspective — recall Obama’s 29 speeches? — then it’s simple fear or intransigence that is leading the people astray.

No, there can be no chance that the people know better than the political elite. Can there?

That’s the curious thing about Dahl’s perspective. If we concede that the value of a democracy is that citizens debate and discuss weighty public matters before registering their collective will, it should be a no-brainer that when 61 percent of the public wants Congress to drop health reform, the political classes will act accordingly.

Instead, the political classes suggest the people have debated the subject and came to the wrong conclusion, and because the conclusion was wrong, the Democrats should do what they think is best.

The question is simple: Given massive, sustained public displeasure with the specific proposals generated in the Democratic Congress, and factoring the widespread debate across the nation about health reform, should political leaders pull back and re-tool the plan, or abandon it altogether? Or should they press ahead, on the theory that they know better than the folks who elected them?

Yet Weisberg’s column is about more than just health care. Across the board, he argues, the people seem to want conflicting things. In principle they want health reform and banking reform and housing reform, yet they oppose the plans put forward by lawmakers or the Administration.

Weisberg’s eminently predictable conclusion is that the people are dumb: They don’t know what they want, so they want conflicting things simultaneously. He seems incapable of accepting another logical possibility — that the people may want a governmental fix on big-picture subjects, but reject the specific proposals advanced by a left-leaning Democratic Congress and a left-leaning Democratic President.

Is it possible that a center-right electorate wants specific policy proposals that reflect a center-right mentality, instead of solutions arising from left-wing ideology?

Perhaps the public wants health-insurance reform, but not a government takeover of one-sixth of the economy. Perhaps the public wants banking reform, but not massive TARP bailouts. Perhaps Americans want the Detroit automakers to be successful, but not be subsumed into the Executive Office of the President.

Public discourse is not advanced when thought leaders like Weisberg and Krugman and Obama act as if disagreements with their specific policy positions are tantamount to ignorance.

Perhaps the issue isn’t that the voters are stupid. Perhaps, instead, the voters simply prefer different and less ideological solutions to America’s pressing problems than those favored by Weisberg and his ideological compatriots.

Topics: Politics & Culture | No Comments »

Hither and Yon

By Jason Gillikin | February 6, 2010

This month marks the fourth anniversary of the current incarnation of A Mild Voice of Reason. In that time, I have accumulated 255 posts, 165 legitimate comments, and 4,832 spam comments rejected automatically by Akismet. This translates to 64 posts per year, or 1.2 posts per week. Not bad for a project that spans 40 percent of a decade.

A few recent developments:

  1. I’ll be moving again at the end of the month. Not sure where I will be on March 1, although I have a good sense of where I will end up in the long run. My current apartment was a joint lease between me and my mother, and now that lease has terminated.
  2. Ryan, Jess and the kids are in Bay City. Jess experienced two deaths in her family in January (for which she has my sincere condolences), and one of the funerals was yesterday. Other than that, things are good. The kids are happy, healthy and strong. Ryan is doing really well; he has recently gotten back into doing some architectural drawings again.
  3. I’ve had a little bit of social interaction this week. Had a quick cup of coffee with Alejandro this past week, and yesterday I went to dinner (Palace of India) and drinks (Mangiamo!) with Stacie and Charlie. That was fun.
  4. I continue to recover since beginning Vitamin D supplements two months ago. Amazing how something as trivial-sounding as a vitamin deficiency can so thoroughly kick one’s buttocks. Next step: Re-regulating my weight, which spiked in the last few months of 2009. Need to drop about 30 lbs. to return to relative normalcy.
  5. The hospital front continues to fascinate. We hired a new person who started the Monday before last. Verdict is still out on how well the Informatics team is going to coalesce.
  6. I continue to do my Demand Studios writing. I recently crossed the “300 articles” mark, which is cool. At $15 per article, this has turned into a pleasant source of secondary revenue.

All for now.

Topics: Personal | No Comments »

January, My Arch Nemesis

By Jason Gillikin | January 23, 2010

A few items of interest –

For the most part, things have been fairly quiet and routine over the last three weeks.  February, however, promises to be much more interesting.  Stay tuned.

Topics: Personal | No Comments »

Why I Bother, 2010 Edition

By Jason Gillikin | January 3, 2010

A few reflections to inaugurate 2010:

The Fullness of Life

The measure of a man is best assessed in the sincerity of his struggle to realize his natural potential. For me, this potential is rooted in the development of authentic wisdom, obtained through the joyful pursuit of diverse experiences, meaningful relationships, and new ideas.

Vision

I aspire to be an elderly man who, upon his 70th birthday, can look himself in the mirror free of the sting of regret.

Key Strategies

  1. Reduce consumption.
  2. Cultivate serenity.
  3. Nurture relationships.
  4. Exhibit insatiable curiosity.

Why Bother?

“See everything, overlook much, change what you can.”
+John XXIII

“The Road goes ever on and on/Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,/And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,/Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet./And whither then? I cannot say.”
+ J.R.R. Tolkein, The Hobbit

Roadmap for 2010

The path to excellence begins with a single step.

Topics: Personal | No Comments »

Political Evolution

By Jason Gillikin | January 2, 2010

Once upon a time, in the far-away land of Grand Rapids, there was a young man who decided to distinguish himself from his peers by articulating a full-throated, aggressive conservatism in a social space permeated with superficial left-wing dogma. This young man internalized his conservatism, turning it into a badge of honor; he felt at ease with its hard-headed pragmatism and rejoiced in its elevation of individual merit.

As time passed, the young man became so identified with his ideology that he became something of a foil from central casting, the Alex P. Keaton in a room full of Phish groupies, to the point that his persona, during his college years, became irrevocably intertwined with the public perception of the conservative movement and the Republican Party.

Yet all was not right in Grand Rapids.  Our hero, far from being personally content as a political malcontent, instead grew increasingly cynical about the political process. The lucid conservatism with which he found succor through the pages of National Review and First Things was transformed without his consent into a semi-coherent ”compassionate conservatism,” and he found himself defending, with diminishing zeal, the ineptness of a President who just couldn’t seem to marshal the competence to match his conviction.

By the time yet another national election cycle came around, the young man found himself utterly disconnected, even after the brief puff of excitement following the Palin announcement. No, not only were the Party and the Movement different, but so was he; an ideologue, no more.

II

My journey from educated-but-unreflective ideologue to something more nuanced has been a long, painful process. The first trickle started after Hurricane Katrina; the “heckuva job, Brownie” nonsense mixed with ongoing stupidity at the TSA and the obvious excesses of the K-Street GOP did not sit well. Although my faith in theoretical conservative beliefs did not waver, my hope that conservatives ascendant would be an unmitigated force for good, did. In early 2006, I started to share in the sense of doom about the mid-terms, and after that, my heart wasn’t really in it.

The fact that Mike Huckabee could be a contender for the GOP nomination that John McCain eventually won, left me listless and politically cranky. The enthusiasm of the Left over Barack Obama and the 2006 elections suggested that perhaps conservatism flourished best when it was in the wilderness, serving as a counterweight that may occasionally stymie the Left but which was simply not capable of governing in its own right.

Yet Obama, and particularly the Pelosi/Reid team, have moved in disconcerting directions. Going wobbly over Gitmo, treating the underpants bomber as a law-enforcement issue, forcing the Porkulus bill, ram-roding a horrid health-reform bill, advocating cap-and-trade — all of it, based less on sound science and prudent economics than on the cynical desire to placate a hungry activist base.

This has renewed my political interest, yet I am no longer able to claim the role of the unreflexive GOP apologist.

Partly this is because of my stands on the issues, which I had to hone without substantial regard to the “party line.”  This has led me to an economic neoliberalism, marked by fiscal restraint, low taxes, low regulation and more privatization, low national debt, and free trade.  In defense and foreign affairs, I support maintaining a large military and using it to aggressively defend American interests abroad, and to end widespread human-rights abuses (e.g., genocide), something on the Dick Cheney model. On most domestic social policy, I now trend libertarian, even though I oppose abortion in all instances and would prefer that innovations like gay marriage wait for widespread social acceptance instead of mere judicial fiat.

Accordingly, I now consider myself a center-right Republican. Most social issues don’t resonate with me like they used to, although I remain a very strong proponent of fiscal restraint and aggressive prosecution of the war on terror. Furthermore, I am much less likely to pull the GOP lever in the ballot box by default; I’d vote for a competent, centrist Democrat (like Bart Stupak) over a bomb-throwing radical (like Michele Bachmann) on any first Tuesday in November.

III

From this new vantage point, a few observations emerge with greater clarity.

  1. Not for naught is Peggy Noonan growing on me. Her columns of late continue to address the erosion of civil discourse in the body politic. The Left and the Right, it seems, aren’t even bothering to shout over each other anymore; now, they talk only to their true believers. Those in the middle who could be persuaded have very little recourse to reasoned debate. Those on the fringes are engaged in discrediting their opponents in any possible way. This does not bode well for the nation; America as a two-party environment needs to have a certain amount of social lubrication to keep those two wheels spinning at least on the same axle. The “Climategate” story is an excellent case-in-point: Fudged climate data could have been a teaching moment for climate-change proponents and skeptics alike, but instead it turned into something akin to an early Soviet party congress in Copenhagen, with a deluge of dogmas and denunciations substituting for meaningful debate.
  2. The Democrats are playing a dangerous game by utterly ignoring the will of the middle (which by ungodly proportions is opposed to Obama’s signature issues of health reform and cap-and-trade) to impose a solution written by the fringe Left. The arrogance of this imposition upon the electorate is breathtaking, and it will not redound to the Democrats’ good eleven months hence, nor to the good of the future generations that must pay the bill for this package of reckless spending.
  3. The Republicans have gotten lucky by being irrelevant, yet they still seem incapable of providing a unified and coherent alternative to myriad issues that could earn them genuine goodwill and respect. This is the perfect time to build a solid case for a responsible, pro-freedom policy alternative, but little comes back except “No.” A golden opportunity, wasted.
  4. The last year should put the nail in the coffin of the idea that media figures are unbiased. Look no further than Anderson Cooper’s “teabaggers” nonsense, or the resurrection of Dan Rather’s “fake but accurate” strategy with regard to Climategate, for proof.
  5. The people most affected by the big-picture political struggles of the day are the people least likely to be tracking these issues with diligence. How many 20-somethings who don’t really care about health insurance are really aware that in just a few years, they may face steep penalties for going without? How many 13-year-olds realize that their goal of serving in the military may well result in a tour in Afghanistan? How many senior citizens understand the impetus to rationing that underpins the Senate health bill? And where are the mediating organizations that should help keep the average citizen informed, with utmost objectivity, about policy changes?

Some commentators, including Noonan, have suggested that the 2000s were a “decade of disillusionment.” Perhaps this is so, but it need not be a self-fulfilling prophecy. At some point, the cooler, wiser, more moderate heads must prevail. They must be open to some change, but perhaps not a restructuring of the country. They must be willing to talk, but not to encourage the sloganeering and invective of the fringes. Most importantly, they must have the courage to run and win elections, thereby bringing a sense of balance back to the national debate, a framework of fairness that has been missing for a few years.

Political evolution is hard work. It takes real courage to set aside the talking points and the knee-jerk ideology that accompany a sociopolitical movement, and instead find wisdom along the path less traveled.

Hard work. But necessary.

Topics: Philosophy, Politics & Culture | 3 Comments »

Cleansing

By Jason Gillikin | January 1, 2010

Interesting way to start the new year – I deleted eight of 14 email addresses, and got rid of all but five IM accounts. Most of these were holdovers from my sim days, or from when I was concerned about anonymity during my wilder “dating” days. No need to keep them around any longer.

All that remain, in terms of email, are my personal email, three work addresses, and Hotmail and Gmail addresses. For IM, I have one AIM, two Yahoo, an MSN, and a Google Talk screen name.

Much cleaner.

And on top of it, I finally bit the bullet and leased space on an Exchange server with BES so I can keep everything synchronized between Outlook, a Web client, and my Blackberry. No more trying in vain to force Outlook 2010 beta (x64) to connect to Horde.

Topics: Personal | No Comments »

Reflections ‘09

By Jason Gillikin | January 1, 2010

“Remembering. I am half-smiling at ridiculous situations, crazy people and strange places, all with the benefit of hindsight. I admit I am choosing my memories selectively. I am quickening time, losing years and even improving my looks. I have never included the bad side which, I know, is an integral part of one’s memories. That was not for me.”  — John Kemp, Sticky Wicket.

2009 was, to put it delicately, an interesting year. Much has happened. Much has not happened that should have. In any case, it has been a year of growth and deeper insight that has more than passing value. In accord with this humble blog’s annual tradition of wrapping up the prior year, I offer a few reflections about my life in 2009.

  1. I can’t fix everyone. I have spent a lot of time serving others as a counselor and mentor, trying to help people find peace with their inner demons.  For some people, this was an exercise in futility; for others, it served them well. In any case, my willingness to fall naturally into “mentor” mode in some ways serves as a roadblock not only for my own happiness, but also — on occasion — for the happiness of others. I need to be OK with others failing without feeling responsible for fixing it.
  2. The struggle of making things work often throws the most important goals to the back burner. We get so enmeshed in the minutiae of today’s struggles that we fail to position ourselves effectively for greater success tomorrow. At some point, prudence must win out; long-term success occasionally entails short-term distress, and these various pains must be borne if we are to arrive at old age without a significant encumbrance of emotional baggage.
  3. The year past emphasized the importance of relationship-building. On one hand, I have a deeper and stronger relationship with some (Ryan, Jess, Charlie, Duane, Kate) even as others have sat in a holding pattern (Stacie, Emilie) or even declined (Andrew, Candace).  I have made new friends (Jerry, Chris) and also met people who could have been friends but for some reason or another it just didn’t work (Tim, Aaron).  Facebook has been an interesting tool for connection; I’ve kept some passing acquaintance with friends from college and high school, and I even managed to meet my dad’s significant other.  All of this is to make the point: Relationship-building is tough work, and even deep and old friendships need to be watered and tended from time to time lest they wither and die.
  4. One thing about 2009 — it was the year I internalized that I am an adult. From personal relationships to financial obligations, the “don’t worry, it’ll be fine” attitude was revealed to be as juvenile as it is hollow. Lessons learned.
  5. My biggest accomplishment was getting serious about my business venture. Three cheers for finding my motivation and making it happen.
  6. My biggest missed opportunity was in losing focus on my goals — my weight crept up, I stopped doing karate, and I didn’t dive all year. No excuse.
  7. The big resolutions for 2010:  Get fit again, continue to grow my business, deepen my personal relationships, and get back on track with many of my Project 810 goals.

May your 2010 be the best year ever!

Topics: Personal | No Comments »

The Mind Doth Not Triumph

By Jason Gillikin | December 26, 2009

Rational people take comfort in their rationality. They explore the world around them with intellectual curiosity; they pose unconventional questions about unquestioned convention; they seek the assurance of a rigid taxonomy assisted by predictable chains of causation.

Yet faith in rationality, in realism, in common sense — is profoundly misguided, methinks.  The last few weeks have made me witness to several highly rational people floundering in a sea of emotional distress. Yes, I have been able to offer comfort by appealing to alternative taxonomies or hidden premises or shifting paradigms. Yet it is curious, isn’t it?  That vaunted rationality should be left so utterly defenseless against the wild-eyed irrationality of passing emotion?

The ancients had their fun with this dilemma, of course; the entire modus vivendi of both the Stoics and the Epicureans was based on bringing an armistice to the head-heart conflict.

And today, the cool rationalism of the Obama administration yields to the irrational passions of the administration’s activist fringe to push policies whose priority makes precious little sense when considered under the cold, hard light of realpolitik.

Nevertheless.

Perhaps it’s a statistical blip. Perhaps I’m merely more attuned to it lately. But several close friends have confided in me of their emotional turmoil, and their struggle to find meaning in it and to find a “logical way out.”

And there’s the rub. There may not be a logical way out. Maybe, instead of thinking their way out of the box, they need to feel their way out. Maybe the rigid rationalism that facilitates over-thinking and self-doubt should be shelved in favor of a wild ride of the heart.

In conflicts between the heart and the mind, the heart’s inclinations usually push in favor of short-term gratification, sometimes at the expense of long-term prudence. This impluse can be resisted, but never suppressed. Resistance is futile; the heart’s yearings will be assimilated. So perhaps instead of using reason as a weapon to slay the heart’s longings, reason can instead be used as a tool to channel those longings into something more strategically sound.

Perhaps.

All I know is that, as Pascal said, the heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing. The mind doth not triumph.

Topics: Philosophy | No Comments »

Let It Snow!

By Jason Gillikin | December 12, 2009

Well, the “blizzard” was fun. I discovered that it’s possible to die of heat exhaustion in the middle of a frigid snowstorm when you wear too much wool in too many layers. Hooray for poor wardrobe planning!  But I do love the white stuff.

Last few weeks have been a treat:

  1. My doctor’s visit was fun. Turns out, my thyroid is in mint condition — but, I have an extremely seriously low level of vitamin D in my system. This has a role to play in a bunch of biochemical processes, including calcium regulation, so we’re attacking the vitamin D issue as our first strategery for defeating the twin terrors of “Jason has no energy” and “Jason is in a mental fog.”  I have a prescription for a 50,000 IU dose that I take once per week for eight weeks, then get follow-up labs drawn. Stay tuned (and yes, I’ve already had my fill of “white boy needs sun” jokes, thankyouverymuch).
  2. My dad had pretty major surgery this week. Keep him in your prayers.
  3. The family Christmas this year was interesting. Brian was back from Iraq for a week or so; hence, we assembled last Monday for festivities. He is doing well, and that cheeky bastard has already lost a million pounds, which seem to have found a new home upon my thighs.  Sometimes life just isn’t fair. :)
  4. With the cold I was able to wear my big fuzzy Siberian rabbit hat this week. As usual, I got questions and comments.  Good times. 
  5. The hospital and writing are holding steady. More changes loom, but it’s too early to say what life will look like a month from now.
  6. Duane seems to be settling in well.  He appears happy.  We’ve been doing a bit of online WoW lately.  I’m glad he’s OK; he was in a pretty bad spot just a few months ago.

Stay warm!

Topics: Personal | No Comments »

End-of-November Roundup

By Jason Gillikin | November 29, 2009

‘Tis the end of November, and all through the blog, not a text post was stirring, not even a blurb.

  1. Thanksgiving was pretty good. It was just my mother and I, and a curious but tasty “turkey roast.” We ate a delicious meal (I brought a pumpkin pie), watched Dante’s Peak, and pulled in her boxes of Christmas goodies. And I got to play with Gunner, her adorable German Shepherd puppy. Meanwhile, Ryan and the crumb crunchers went back to the east side of the state for the weekend.
  2. I learned that my dad needs major surgery soon. I have to give him a call.
  3. … And I, myself, have been not-so-hot. For a while now I haven’t felt all that good; I’ve been tired a lot, and increasingly unable to focus, I’ve been more moody than usual, and my weight has been creeping up again. Wondering if our old family demon, the wicked banshee Hypothyroidism, is rearing its ugly head. I’m setting an appointment tomorrow for a complete physical with full blood work.
  4. Evenings have been spent doing a fair amount of writing work for Demand Studios. On the upside, if I get into a rhythm, I can net the equivalent of $30 per hour churning out rebranded articles for ehow.com and answerbag.com. On the downside, I have to get into a rhythm or my effective hourly rate-of-return sinks to the $10 level. Ugh.
  5. Haven’t seen much of my friends since “bad musical” night – mostly because I’ve been too exhausted to set things up. Haven’t seen Tony in a while. I did set aside time to have coffee with Alejandro two weeks ago, and Charlie yesterday, and I had lunch last week with Kate, but that’s about it. My social motivation is at an all-time low.
  6. Life at the hospital has been interesting. My workgroup is undergoing massive restructuring. One of the damnable things about having a degree in political science, and hence exposure to political theory, is that I feel like Cassandra a lot: I understand the dynamics of things going on around me, but my warnings are often set aside for the easier fix that doesn’t require a change to the organizational culture. Yet the fix, because it doesn’t really correct the problem, is doomed to ultimate failure. And, of course, that failure reflects on me. Lovely.
  7. I signed up for a Netflix account a few weeks ago, and have been getting DVDs of the fouth and fifth seasons of Stargate Atlantis. I enjoyed that series; it’s too bad it ended after only five seasons. Like its sister program, Stargate SG1, Atlantis’s unique charm is in its humor. The little things amuse: In one scene, four leaders meet, three colonels and a lieutenant colonel. Each one greets the other by rank, so the dialogue was: “Colonel, colonel. Colonel, colonel. Colonel, colonel. Colonel, colonel.” And one civilian character stood there and rolled his eyes.
  8. Speaking of TV humor, I’ve decided that the most consistently funny man on television is Mike Rowe of Discovery’s Dirty Jobs. His deadpan approach to unpleasant situations, the faux-mocking tone he takes with some of the people he encounters, and the understated physicality of his work, make for an amusing hour of programming – more funny than any sit-com on network TV. Come to think of it, Discovery has been pretty good with humor. An episode of Man vs. Wild with Bear Grylls, set in the tundra of northern Sweden, had our affable host partnered with Will Ferrell. The episode showed a new, deliciously ironic side to Ferrell I didn’t appreciate, and the episode was so intensely funny that I was laughing out loud multiple times. Not an easy accomplishment.
  9. I installed the beta of Microsoft Office 2010 yesterday, and I am quite pleased. In fact, I am writing this blog post directly in Word 2010; it has a “sharing” option that allows direct placement to a file location, or Sharepoint site, or blog. And the new Outlook is almost orgasmic; it has the new ribbon (which, e.g., in Word, is much more logical than the Office 2007 versions), and better handling of RSS. I am thoroughly satisfied with Microsoft’s major apps lately. Windows 7 is a remarkable improvement upon Vista and Office 2010 looks like a worthy upgrade to Office 2007. And I use Bing as my default search engine because I like it better than Google. If only Microsoft would provide harmony for its online services (integrating Hotmail, Skydrive, and the like into something much more unified and cohesive). If MS would get multiprotocol support for Messenger, which integrates into Communicator, I’d be thrilled to tears.
  10. I recently finished Natan Sharansky’s The Case for Democracy. The first two-thirds were a fascinating insight into the political possibilities of linking human rights to public diplomacy. I can see why this book was so influential among the neocons during the Bush administration. Yet the final one-third disappointed; it was basically Sharansky saying, “Pfft, the morons didn’t listen to me and so the chance for Middle East peace was lost.” Nevertheless, it was a book worth reading and thinking about.

All for now.

Topics: Personal | No Comments »


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