Detailed Abstractions

In a sterling example of the dangers of an echo chamber to your ability to critically analyze things, look no further than President Obama’s official biographer, Neal Gabler.

In an OpEd for the LA Times, he attempts to extol the virtues of open minded liberals versus those of the dogmatic, intolerant conservatives.

Leaving aside the stupidity of believing such as obviously self serving point, we see in his own writings intolerance.

According to our vaulted writer, the conservatives have turned their party into a religion:

…Religious fundamentalism, on the other hand, rests on immutable truths that cannot be negotiated, compromised or changed. In this, it is diametrically opposed to liberal democracy as we have practiced it in America. Democrats of every political stripe may defend democracy to the death, but very few would defend individual policies to the death. You don’t wage bloody crusades for banking regulation or the minimum wage or even healthcare reform. When politics becomes religion, however, policy too becomes a matter of life and death, as we have all seen….

I suppose he missed that whole part, where religion has changed a great deal over the past few centuries, but I’m sure he’s not as dogmatic and righteous as his opponents:… right?

…The tea-baggers who hate President Obama with a fervor that is beyond politics; the fear-mongers who warn that Obama is another Hitler or Stalin; the wannabe storm troopers who brandish their guns and warn darkly of the president’s demise; the cable and talk-radio blowhards who make a living out of demonizing Obama and tarring liberals as America-haters – these people are not just exercising their rights within the political system….

(all emphasis added)

Maybe I’m misreading the great Mr. Gabler, but that part seems awfully like immutable truths.  At least I don’t think insults such as “tea-baggers” or “wannabe storm troopers” leaves a lot of wiggle room.  Maybe I just don’t understand.

…They [conservatives] honestly believe that the political system — a system that elected Obama — is broken and only can be fixed by substituting their certainty for the uncertainties of American politics….

He certainly seems certain about the motives of people he likely never interacts with.  I’m not sure, but I think motives are one of those things that are difficult to substantiate.  Maybe I’m not that smart?

…As we are sadly discovering, this minority cannot be headed off, which is most likely why conservatism transmogrified from politics to a religion in the first place. Conservatives who sincerely believed that theirs is the only true and right path have come to realize that political tolerance is no match for religious vehemence.

Unfortunately, they are right. Having opted out of political discourse, they are not susceptible to any suasion. Rationality won’t work because their arguments are faith-based rather than evidence-based. Better message control won’t work. Improved strategies won’t work. Grass-roots organizing won’t work. Nothing will work because you cannot convince religious fanatics of anything other than what they already believe, even if their religion is political dogma….

& there it is.  In a nut shell, he could’ve written, “We are the most tolerant decent people on Earth, but we can no longer tolerate the opposition.”   Who knows… maybe he gets paid by the word because he continues:

…There is something terrifying in this. The media have certainly been cowed; they treat intolerance as if it were legitimate political activity. So have many politicians, and not just the conservative ones who know that if they don’t fall in line, they will be run over. This political fundamentalism has also invaded the general culture in deleterious ways. The ugly incivility of recent months is partly the result of political fundamentalists who have nothing but contempt for opposing viewpoints, which gives them license to shout down opponents or threaten them, just as jihadis everywhere do….

He wrote more of course, though what was removed will not help piece it together as it continues to be a self-serving piece of dribble, but a valuable demonstration of what a true echo chamber looks like and a fairly consistent meme from certain media types and political leaders.

But what some may forget, is anytime there are very serious issues before the legislature, there are going to be very serious protests, counter-protests, heated arguments, hyperbole, messaging strategies and on and on and on.

Just like with the Iraq war, a monumental decision which created much domestic turmoil, a complete overhaul of the financial & health care industries is going to create much the same thing.

An honest, objective look shows the rancor is not that hard to understand.  An objective look at history, even going back as far as 6 whole years ago, shows this isn’t the first time people have been riled up by potential government action(s).

You see, anytime the government is moving towards very personal and very important actions, such as sending kids to war, or major legislative changes to your personal health care options; people are going to reasonably have very strong opinions.  Additionally, with the stakes so high, those opinions are more likely to be voiced than if… say the guy running for county dog catcher was caught sleeping on the job.

I semi-trust Mr. Gabler isn’t purposefully being dishonest in his piece.  A more  likely, scarier scenario, is he doesn’t know anyone who disagrees with him.  He doesn’t interact with people who would question his premises, doesn’t read articles critical of his positions, and doesn’t seek out the true logic within the views of his opponents.

Just like those with dogmatic “jihadi” faith, I’m sure his echo chamber brings him a lot of solace.  It likely helps him continue to believe in the supremacy of his ideas and minimizes any worry that would spring from cognitive dissonance.

Irregardless of the positives he might get from leading such a life,  true critical analysis will always take much more work than “I’m tolerant and you’re not so I don’t have to listen to you!”

Unless you were lucky enough to be traveling or otherwise unavailable on Sunday, you were likely deluged with Mr. Obama’s media storm to sell not only health care, but apparently many other items as well.

First, it should be noted that this WH is above all, extremely insecure.  The President could be seen on 5 Sunday news shows: NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN and Univision.   But he didn’t have time for Fox, the number one rated Sunday news show…

Regardless of the WH being extremely petty and worrying more about perceived injustices than an honest discussion with those who might disagree, what he actually said is far more serious.

When asked if a health care mandate was a tax increase on ABC’s this week, the President responded:

…”I absolutely reject that notion,” the president said….

“What it’s saying is, is that we’re not going to have other people carrying your burdens for you anymore,” said Obama. “Right now everybody in America, just about, has to get auto insurance . Nobody considers that a tax increase.”…

Using flawed logic is nothing new for Presidents, but this one isn’t even close.  Hhe’s analogizing the privilege of driving with the “privilege” of being a citizen.

The difference of course as that by my very birth, I have a “right” to be a citizen, whereas driving has always remained a privilege with constraints.  You see, I can forgo auto insurance, so long as I don’t drive.  There are many ways around without a car in this day and age, but if I “choose” to drive, then constraints can be placed on me.

Health care on the other hand would be required simply because I existed and no other reason.  & If the government says, “You have to buy this” – it is a tax increase as not paying it can land you in very serious legal troubles.

On CBS’s Face the Nation, with an omnipotent sense of when health care, our fearless leader goes further:

…Obama put his support behind the idea of taxing employers that offer high-cost insurance plans.

“I do think that giving a disincentive to insurance companies to offer Cadillac plans that don’t make people healthier is part of the way that we’re going to bring down health care costs for everybody over the long term,” Obama said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”…

Even ignoring the fact that this goes against his basic premise that more people need more health care, one wonders if there is anything our President doesn’t know.  So far, he’s taken over banks, car companies, told car companies with whom to merge, who to hire, who to fire, what to build… and now we find out he knows how much health care is too much.

But let’s not stop there.  Not only is our community organizer one of the smartest men in America when it comes to economics and health care, he’s also a brilliant strategist with respects to Afghanistan:

…”What I’m not also gonna do, though, is put the resource question before the strategy question,” Obama told NBC’s David Gregory on “Meet the Press.” “Until I’m satisfied that we’ve got the right strategy I’m not gonna be sending some young man or woman over there- beyond what we already have.”…

I’m not sure exactly what happens to man to think he has the answers to every single last question. Maybe it’s just arrogance and ignorance, as Hayek stated:

If most people are not willing to see the difficulty, this is mainly because, consciously or unconsciously, they assume that it will be they who will settle these questions for the others, and because they are convinced of their own capacity to do this.

Whatever the reason he believes so strongly in his ability to decide what’s best for our own good, history shows us without question where this inevitably leads.  Hayek again:

To act on the belief that we possess the knowledge and the power which enable us to shape the processes of society entirely to our liking, knowledge which in fact we do not possess, is likely to make us do much harm.

Let’s hope we begin to understand the value of humility before we do too much damage.