Eris Quod Sum

How liberals whitewash mistakes: Stage 1: “Our country needs EFFECTIVE SMART POLICY (TM). For this reason we need <POLICY X> because academic studies show <POLICY X> is effective and academics are smart.” Stage 2: “Ok, we haven’t seen <POLICY X> get good results yet, but that’s just because it hasn’t been implemented widely enough. We know it works. Maybe do it, like, a billion more times?” Stage 3: “So it’s clear that <POLICY X> doesn’t work in these cases that got bad results. Policy-makers need to use discretion, policy ideas are not magic after all.” Stage 4: “Sure, most of the cases where we have tried <POLICY X> have failed. But <POLICY X> is just one option among many available to policy-makers. And sometimes <POLICY X> does get results. Just look at <rich community whose wealth obscures virtually all problems> and you can see it working there.” Stage 5: “Look everyone knows <POLICY X> doesn’t work. But I never advocated for <POLICY X>. I just advocated for EFFECTIVE SMART POLICY (TM). Now certainly, at the time, many academic types mistakenly believed that <POLICY X> was effect and smart. Also many gullible policy-makers believed them. But they made this mistake because of <quirky anthropological quality that I don’t share>. This is why you need sober-minded realist journalists like myself to notice when they get things wrong!”