Look at what we see coming: a U.S. Senator is going to get elected.
I think this will only be the third time in history that this has happened in the U.S. I’m thinking there’s been a good reason for this that most people are simply choosing to ignore. Anyway you look at it, someone is going to get elected with almost laughable inexperience. It’s likely we’ll have to pay for that too.

Sincerly,
Cato on The Greens

To the contrary, I am neither optimistic nor sanguine that we will address, in the short term, the many problems we confront. The source of the problem is not some “process”. It is the unholy alliance of bible thumpers, war mongers, and money that have dominated American culture since St. Ronny declared “greed is good”. I see little evidence that we are ready to give up on conservatism. When people are enamored with bad ideas it usually takes generational change to produce practical change–a long, slow affair.

Refusing to vote doesn’t de-legitimize anything. (I thought that “tune in and drop out” had already been tried. That is in part what got us into this problem) Most of the corporate leaders, and politicians who are in their pockets, would like nothing better than that we become a population of apathetic tools who have given up caring about what they do. At least now they have to keep one eye on the rabble to make sure prairie fires don’t get out of control.

Of course change that depends on rooting out bad ideas will be incremental. Muddling through, doing just enough to prevent problems from piling up, is about the best we can do. Rapid, catastrophic change seldom has the beneficial effects its perpetrators intend.

As to your policy proposals, I am puzzled by your claim that no politician confronts them. 1 and 3 are standard elements of Democratic policy, and most Democrats agree with 2 if it becomes clear that social security is underfunded (It is not clear yet but I think that sort of adjustment is inevitable).

Limiting the size of vehicles and increasing octane ratings are far too modest to deal with the problem of global warming. Only a carbon tax (proceeds used to promote alternative fuels) or perhaps a cap and trade system will provide adequate disincentives for continuing to burn fossil fuels. But these are already central elements in the campaigns of all Democrats. (The Republicans are silent on the issue)

410 K’s are probably not the right vehicle for increasing savings rates but I don’t know of any liberal economist who is not concerned about inadequate personal savings rates.

Denying health care to people with unhealthy personal habits just seems like bad public policy for all sorts of reasons. How would you monitor personal habits to determine eligibility? Since the rest of “us” can catch some of “their” diseases, denying health care to anyone is a fool’s game that makes us all less healthy. These issues of personal habits are better dealt with through informal norms. We have an entire health care industry imploring us to adopt healthier habits. Over the long run with smoking that seems to have worked.

I’m quite sure Minerva valued patience. The truly inspired enjoy the practice as well as the result.

forrest

BS is much more fun than a simple lie. Lies and false promises are actually little different from hopes and aspirations. Lighten up, life can be wonderful, beautiful, amazing, and everything good that you could imagine if you perceive the glass to be half full instead of half empty.

How full of wonder life can be if you perceive it that way. I know from experience. Dribble, no! Believe me, what you want and need from life is simply yours –

Few politicians ever tried to cheat anybody, most are simply incompetent and are trying their best within the confines of their intelligence, abilities, and political obligations to those that elected yo.l

Endless platitudes lighten the spirit.

Joseph above, all your perscriptions are exactly right on but who’s smart enough to vote for bitter remedies, very few I promise. You couldn’t be elected dog catcher. Me, on the other hand would BS with the very best of them and if I ever got elected dog catcher, like all the others, I would give my life to be as good as I could be.

Voting is only important for those that understand, about 3% I believe.

What’s up Moriae?

At least that’s my opinion, your friend forrest

What ‘should be done’ has been and continues to be unaddressed. Perhaps I should point up some of the issues that would provided a relief in which to note the disparity between our petty pursuits, and what would benefit the future. No politician dares confront the following suggestions:

1. First and most obvious, we have to raise the taxes on ourselves to match and conform to our desires to have something for ourselves.

2. Retirement ages must be raised to reflect current actuarial risks. The age of 65 seemed pretty high in the 30′s (my own grandfathers died at 61 & 62) but is certainly unreflective of current conditions. I don’t think 72 is off the mark.

3. The Social Security Fund must be segregated from the General Fund in order to protect it from its current looting.

4. Mandatory 401K plans should be required by anyone reaching 18 years old. They could sign up at the same time they sign up for the draft.

5. Cars designed for non-specific uses should be limited to 4,000 lbs., and perhaps lowered still over time. In other words, bring an end to SUVs.

6. Gasoline must have a higher octane rating (98 or better) to permit smaller engines with higher compression ratios to achieve higher performance standards.

7. Any concept of universal health care must be denied to people who persist in detrimental behaviors, such as smoking, drinking, eating too much, not exercising regularly, and/or taking drugs.

Now these goals (and I can think of 12 million more) would lead to ‘change.’ But my whole point has been that the real issue left unmentioned by nearly all is that the ‘change’ the people want is merely incremental and ad hoc. For the most part, the vast majority of people don’t want their boats rocked. They are content–after all, they are living on the labor of people not yet born. It is a free lunch. And it suits everyone to keep it like that.

Our current geldings who run things wouldn’t touch these issues despite unnerving bribes because they understand something about the populous that we don’t understand ourselves: the presence of cognitive dissonance in citizen values.

What makes all of this so pernicious now is that for quite some time this distructive style of politics was largely restricted to the national level. But now you see states (and California is a big one here) doing the same deficit spending so as to not step on anyone’s toes too harshly. This is unsustainable. It must change, but it won’t be the boobs (hey Moriae) we vote for you’ll do this. It can only begin by undermining the ‘legitimacy’ of the process itself that got us in this predicament in the first place.

“If generations of mankind layed down their lives, if prophets confessed and martyrs sang in the fires, and all the sacred tears were shed for no other end than that a race of creatures of such unexampled insipidity should prolong and protract their contented and inoffensives lives, then better lose than win the battle; or in all events, it would be better to bring down the curtain on a play that began so gloriously to save it from so flat a winding up.”

By advocating that your generation should not partake in the making of decisions for fear of harming future generations, while altruistic, is not practical. The idea that voting should be a selfless act is a delusion. I’m sure you are aware that existing generations naturally feed off one another until the eldest dies out, and that this relationship is a symbiotic one. As with all symbiotic relationships, if one entity fails in its job the other entity suffers. If you do not vote, you are opting for stagnancy, and to not act as an egoist you are condemning your own generation to a premature grave.

You seem to strongly care about interests of future generations, yet do you not think that the non-pursuance of your own “petty interests” for fear of harming them is a serious undermining of their intelligence?

Go to Mars and leave them the debt. They will cultivate it. Such is the nature of progress.

You are assuming that investments that benefit the present generation are a zero-sum game. We invest in ourselves and the future loses out. But that is not true of all investments. Investments in infrastructure, knowledge, public health, some technologies, etc. build capacity and capabilities for future generations. At least part of what future generations will accomplish will stand on our shoulders.

Thus, budget deficits (unlike the extraction of natural resources) in and of themselves do not necessarily rob the future. It depends on what we invest in.