§ ≡ A section of Preserve, Protect, and Defend: Faithfully Executing the Office of the President
{Section 4.5 « Section 4.6 » Section 4.7}
{link » A Personal FAQ on the Financial Crisis of 2008}
Any one of the significant "issues" of a Presidential Campaign is multi-layered and can not be reduced to a 30-second sound bite, even to properly describe it, let alone offer a hint of a meaningful solution. "Hope" and "change" are slogans not solutions. Anyone who mistakes a slogan for a solution has his head in the ground or elsewhere.
But because we are stuck with rhetoric and slogans masquerading as logic and solutions, respectively, we have no choice but to rely on our personal bullshit meters — if it sounds like bullshit, it probably is. And most people know what bullshit sounds like.
The only reasonable basis for a reasonable Presidential choice is character, for which most people also have a pretty good built-in meter. If the candidate's character offends your sense of decency, for God's sake don't vote for him. Vote for the one who best approximates basic American decency. It's the only reasonable choice.
{Section 4.5 « Section 4.6 » Section 4.7}
{link » A Personal FAQ on the Financial Crisis of 2008}
[...]Any situation requiring the attention of the President of the United States is likely to be multi-layered in the above-described sense. This is why the above-linked FAQ by Ivo Welch, Professor of Economics and Finance at Brown, makes for valuable reading applicable beyond it's specific discussion of the current financial crisis. This is also why all the sound bites that comprise the Presidential-campaign rhetoric are worthless for a voting decision based on "the issues".
Q: “If you had to characterize this FAQ in brief, how does it differ from others?”
A: “It decomposes the causes of the credit crisis into multiple layers. It is more prescriptive and informed on the long-term fixes we need than it is on the short-term fixes.”
[...]
Q: “Why is it useful to think of layers of causes?”
A: “Aside from more conceptual clarity, there is a direct practical advantage: Many shallow layers are probably best tackled in the short run; medium layers in the medium run; and deep layers in the long run.”
[...]
Any one of the significant "issues" of a Presidential Campaign is multi-layered and can not be reduced to a 30-second sound bite, even to properly describe it, let alone offer a hint of a meaningful solution. "Hope" and "change" are slogans not solutions. Anyone who mistakes a slogan for a solution has his head in the ground or elsewhere.
But because we are stuck with rhetoric and slogans masquerading as logic and solutions, respectively, we have no choice but to rely on our personal bullshit meters — if it sounds like bullshit, it probably is. And most people know what bullshit sounds like.
The only reasonable basis for a reasonable Presidential choice is character, for which most people also have a pretty good built-in meter. If the candidate's character offends your sense of decency, for God's sake don't vote for him. Vote for the one who best approximates basic American decency. It's the only reasonable choice.
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