I’m stumbling in the dark here, but every once in a while I see a faint glimmer of light: this way! I take a few tentative steps forward…
Viewing entries tagged
Ideology and Politics
What's the problem with inequality after accounting for other societal ills and human psychology, such as poverty, lack of social mobility, a zero-sum understanding of wealth, status resentment or envy, constrained economic growth, etc.
Facts are nice, but fact-checking posts are not always relevant or helpful, especially when they miss the point of whatever statements are being corrected…That’s rather wishy-washy though. Sometimes a lie is a lie is a lie and it needs to be called out. My advice is …
The World Happiness Report has identified six variables that account for more than three-quarters of the variation in life evaluation scores: 1) Having someone to count on; 2) GDP per capita; 3) Healthy life expectancy; 4) Freedom to make life choices; 5) Generosity; and, Freedom from corruption.
The annoying thing is that, taken individually, each piece of euro-regulation is laudable. Yes, Europe should aim for “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050. Of course regulating AI is sensible, lest the robots turn on us one day. Firm antitrust rules enforced by the EU have served consumers well, and so on. But taken together the effect has been a tangle of red tape that has left Europe awkwardly exposed. - The Economist April 22, 2026
Poverty, income volatility, job instability, and lack of social mobility are real problems in the US. While many Americans still manage to climb the socioeconomic ladder to achieve a decent version of the American Dream, some get stuck on the lower rungs. They need help. In previous posts (here, here, here, here, here, and here), I proposed an Adult Student Basic Income (ASBI) that would effectively address these societal ills without bankrupting the US government. However, earlier versions of the ABSI relied on new taxes that I no longer consider politically feasible or financially prudent. So I’ve made some changes to reduce the tax burden and increase the ASBI’s appeal to the American public and business community.
What’s up with Republicans? Don’t they care enough to worry much about important national issues? Maybe. It may also be that Republicans are simply optimistic that the problems listed in the survey can be fixed, or at least managed better, when Republicans are in charge. Which they are. Another possibility is that Gallup didn’t include issues in their survey that Republicans do worry a lot about
Just by glancing at these charts, it would appear that Democrats found Republicans way more problematic than vice versa. And that impression would be correct. To put a number on it, Democrats were three times as likely to see a major problem with the members of the other party than Republicans were. So why are Democrats so strongly and uniformly critical of Republicans about so many different issues? Hard to say without more information but I have some ideas…
So, what’s up with these partisan differences? Hard to say without more information. But I can always speculate! Here goes…
Wealth is the sum of all tangible and intangible assets, minus liabilities and debt. Assets are specific items of value one owns that can be converted into a measurable medium of exchange, which I’ll just call “cash”. You need to convert assets into cash to pay taxes. Uncle Sam doesn’t accept yachts in lieu of cold, hard cash (speaking metaphorically of course; checks and electronic transfers are always welcome).
While I’m against medicalizing unpleasant personalities as “disorders”, this description does appear to fit Trump to a T - as far as it goes. But it doesn’t go far enough these days. He’s more grandiose than ever and less connected to the real world. Which has got me to wondering if there’s something neurological going on.
But there’s a lot more to political differences than values or moral intuitions. For one thing, people have different understandings of how the world works: what is and what leads to what. And our intuitions are not independent of how we interpret situations. That is, how we feel about things requires some understanding of “what the hell is going on here”. In other words, emotion requires appraisal and appraisal includes a take on the causal dynamics of whatever we’re reacting to.
My debate club will be hosting a debate next week on the Trump administration’s recent actions in Venezuela. Speakers will argue for and against the capture of President Maduro as well as U.S. plans to “overhaul” the country post-Maduro. Here are some of the arguments for and against the administration’s actions and plans for Venezuela.
Over the multi-month exchange, this individual mocked and misrepresented counter-arguments and never budged from her original position. Nothing could penetrate her fortress of moral certainty or widen her perspective beyond a narrow moral reasoning. She repeatedly brushed off considerations such as evidence of culpability and constitutional protections as nothing but a smokescreen used by bad people to hide their bad values.
Between October 15 and 26, 2025, the Manhattan Institute surveyed 2295 Republicans and/or 2024 Trump voters (aka the “GOP coalition”), plus an additional 500 registered voters. The sample was reached primarily via online panel interviews.
Gallup and Pew Research also conducted 2025 surveys that included questions on immigrants and immigration. This post will compare Republican responses in those surveys with what the Manhattan Institute found for the GOP coalition.
Now, why would people be afraid of being thought a Republican? Because an awful lot of Democrats and others on the left see Republicans as morons, hysterics, racists, benighted fools, ignorant jerks, self-justifying assholes, callous, immigrant-hating, morally bankrupt, thick…
One would think if people truly cared about achieving a valued social good - say, the elimination of poverty - they would also sweat over the details as to how to achieve this social good without jeopardizing other social goods. Which means they and their shared-values fellows would be having robust and thoughtful arguments on policy, no consensus expected.
I am not quoting Paxton as the ultimate authority on fascism. No scholar is. Historians and political scientists (aka “experts”) differ in their definitions of fascism and opinions of Trump. However, I have noticed that definitions of fascism have morphed over time, perhaps repurposed to boost present-day relevance and create a tighter fit with current figures or political movements.
According the the College Board, first-time full-time students at public two-year colleges have been receiving enough grant aid to cover their tuition and fees since 2010, on average.
But the fact the some types are strongly Democrat or Republican doesn’t mean that most Democrats or Republicans belong to those types. No type claims the majority of Democrats, Independents or Republicans. For example, less than half the Democrats in the NORC survey were Classical Liberals and less than half the Republicans were Mostly MAGAs.