To Badly Go

by Don Boudreaux on February 23, 2010

This morning I heard on a local DC radio station an interview with a tourist who complained that Washington’s “scripted” inhabitants “have no real understanding” of the economic situation of ordinary Americans.

I agree with the tourist’s assessment, but unlike her I’m not disappointed. You see, to visit DC expecting to find people engaged in serious discussions of economics is like visiting a Star Trek convention expecting to find people engaged in serious discussions of astrophysics. Perhaps a handful of the celebrities and costumed performers are familiar with real science, but their overwhelming object is not to help their public deal with reality but, rather, to escape it.

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{ 16 comments }

1 Bill February 23, 2010 at 12:42 pm: “You see, to visit DC expecting to find people engaged in serious discussions of economics is like visiting a Star Trek convention expecting to find people engaged in serious discussions of astrophysics.”

Awesome! That immediately goes into my quote file.
2 Sir Ernest John Pickstone Benn February 23, 2010 at 1:39 pm: Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.
3 Jason February 23, 2010 at 2:06 pm: I disagree a lot of astrophysics are Star Trek fans and finding them at a convention debating real science is pretty likely. Comic-con on the other hand…
4 mordy February 23, 2010 at 2:14 pm: I had a similar feeling when i saw Scott Brown voted forthe jobs bill….let him…expecting himnot to is afnatasy but at least people are starting to see the true colors of those in DC…which to me is far more of value than anything wouldn't you agree?

http://autonomyandpolitics.blogspot.com/
5 txslr February 23, 2010 at 2:19 pm: On a related note, Fox News last night had Bill Nye the Science Guy on to debate Global Warming. I guess Shari Lewis and Lambchops had a prior engagement? (reference for those of you for whom Social Security is emerging as an issue of increasing importance)
6 Paul February 23, 2010 at 3:04 pm: Versailles, the Czar's Winter Palace, Hitler with tank loosen dust falling upon him. Delusion centers are always the last to know.
7 Sam Grove February 23, 2010 at 3:15 pm: I wish there was a remove function.
Oh well, this will do.
8 Sam Grove February 23, 2010 at 3:16 pm: Shari Lewis died in 1998.
9 vidyohs February 23, 2010 at 3:51 pm: “have no real understanding” of the economic situation of ordinary Americans.”

I am my cynical self on this one, I personally find it laughable to assume or give credence to the idea that the ordinary American has any real understanding of their own economic situation.

For instance I cite the majority of wage earners in America who have been enculturated so that their first knee-jerk reaction to the question of “Why start a business” will be to state, so that people will have jobs.

The idea of starting a business to make a profit on which to live, grow fat, and leave a ton of money to your children goes right over their heads.

But, these people vote on the people they, as tourists, find in Washington D.C., and expect them to be something they themselves are not.
10 SheetWise February 23, 2010 at 11:48 pm: Badly or goodly — go forth and prosper my friend
11 Barbarossa February 24, 2010 at 2:22 am: Yeah, Don, watch the slights to the Trekkies. There might be many among your cafe patrons…
12 Terry Noel February 24, 2010 at 6:25 am: That's a keeper, Don. Best analogy I have heard in months.

Terry
13 true_liberal February 24, 2010 at 9:31 am: Dr. Williams often offers his observation that the beneficiaries of such-and-such program are identified and visible, but the victims are anonymous and invisible. Too bad Sen. Scott Brown cannot see the truth in Russ' cartoon “Crowding Out”.
14 Rehiggs February 24, 2010 at 9:10 pm: So, yes, she had a prior engagement.:-)
15 GaryM February 25, 2010 at 10:53 am: I haven't been to any Star Trek conventions lately, but at science fiction conventions, such as Boskone, you can definitely find serious discussions of astrophysics, with professional scientists speaking. (Disclosure: I am a member of the Boskone convention committee.)
16 GaryM February 25, 2010 at 3:53 pm: I haven't been to any Star Trek conventions lately, but at science fiction conventions, such as Boskone, you can definitely find serious discussions of astrophysics, with professional scientists speaking. (Disclosure: I am a member of the Boskone convention committee.)