What ideological labels would you use to describe your politics?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

I agree mostly with what Oakvale and the Mikado said albeit with some qualifications. My own position would be something along the lines of 'radical stoic in personal view, critical rationalist in political views'. I could draw out a bit what I meant by that but that would take too long.

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While I agree that policies should not be based on abstract logical theories of 'improvement', I think this would lead too much to a very self-satisfied and unchanging conservatism. Yes, change should come with reasons but there are other ways of determining what is proper beyond the call of what seems reasonable to us, and that is evidence.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Yeah, I have no f**king clue what Mikado is talking about. The idea that modern public policy has a bias toward action is laughably false.

Given how much % of national GDP/GNP any government just to keep the apparatus of state going, this claim of yours looks very questionable.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Yeah, I have no f**king clue what Mikado is talking about. The idea that modern public policy has a bias toward action is laughably false.

Given how much % of national GDP/GNP any government just to keep the apparatus of state going, this claim of yours looks very questionable.

How so? If anything, that confirms it.

Umm.. How so? The high rate of government expenditure is to keep a very active apparatus going in health, education, social services and all the things governments do. If they are perceived to be lacking in pro-activity then it might be that this definition of 'pro-activity' is very hard to meet.

Then there is the issue of whether any extra intervention will actually work

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Yeah, I have no f**king clue what Mikado is talking about. The idea that modern public policy has a bias toward action is laughably false.

Given how much % of national GDP/GNP any government just to keep the apparatus of state going, this claim of yours looks very questionable.

How so? If anything, that confirms it.

Umm.. How so? The high rate of government expenditure is to keep a very active apparatus going in health, education, social services and all the things governments do. If they are perceived to be lacking in pro-activity then it might be that this definition of 'pro-activity' is very hard to meet.

Then there is the issue of whether any extra intervention will actually work

The question is not so much "high levels of government expenditure" vs. "low levels of government expenditure", it is "maintain the status quo" vs. "try a new approach".

Cutting military spending, for instance, is going to be perceived as action since it is a departure from current practice, even if doing so would technically decrease the amount of things any government is actually doing.

Ok, in that case we are in a debate about the semantics of action, as military expenditure is certainly that as I would define it.

It is true that governments are conservative when it comes to spending plans and to public policy approaches but that in itself is not necessarily unreasonable (though many of the competing interests in trying to divert resources to their 'thing' might be).

[Tetro Kornbluth]

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Ah I was referring to Antonio's comment that government have a bias against action, my point in response is that all that governments do costs so money already that there isn't frequently room for innovation and further innovation (which isn't to say that isn't room). I was defining action as pretty much anything a government does which is proactive, which includes military expenditure especially as that plays in a key role in American industry.

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Agree.

My point was basically that government's aren't biased against what I termed action, what they are biased against is radical change.

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No, of course not. But that policy was very much part of a plan to radically change society (one which has been successful for the most part).