Ungovernable Nation?

Frank Pasquale writes in Law blog Balkinization on The Tragic Sense of Health Insurance Reform. Pasquale engages in a level-headed yet anguished look at both the potential good and the potential problems / challenges that are seeded in the health care reform bill just voted out of debate by the Senate last night.

Pasquale's last paragraph is worth quoting in full, which summarizes well the more in-depth insight contained in the rest of the article:

By passing this reform bill, Democrats will jettison whatever "populist" credentials they once had, opting instead for an early-twentieth-century "progressive" vision of technocratic alliance between corporate and government experts. However many disastrous missteps the FIRE industries make, this is the only arrangement that the media will credit as responsible governance. We'll commence an endless argument (read: notice and comment rulemaking and subsequent administrative adjudications) over what constitutes an adequate baseline of coverage, what is the fair share of revenue for middlemen like insurers, and what regulatory infrastructure can best vindicate the entitlements (and impose the burdens) specified by the bill. But the fundamental victory of reform--the national commitment that no one should have to choose between death or bankruptcy when confronted with a serious illness--will also endure. The tragic paradox is that the Democrats can only achieve this great cultural and ideological victory by becoming identified with the very interests that only they are willing to confront.

While this is, I think, the best bill one could hope (if one is so inclined) that Congress could produce in this day and time (and as good of one as any Congress in the last 100 years could have produced - probably better because of all we have learned through experience with our current insurance-based system), the fact that we are having this debate (idealism vs. realism in government's accomplishing public policy aims) is telling of something more fundamentally broken.

Pasquale makes passing reference in his article of America as "an increasingly ungovernable nation." Given the premise, I don't think that this is a fair characterization of the people or the underlying constitutional system of the United States. As the only military and economic superpower in the world, we have done, and are still doing, enough things right along the way. Rather, what some have termed "ungovernable" is an observation on the overreaching omnipresence of the modern-day federal government.

Americans have been through too much history and are too enamored with natural rights to ever countenance a scheme of direct socialist governance. We are dedicated to the fundamental soundness of the free enterprise system. However, we realize that there are holes in which the free market, left unregulated, do not work for the common good in areas where such is indispensable. Namely, in the self-same areas as called out by Pasquale's reference to "FIRE industries": finance, insurance, and real estate. Of course, Pasquale's point is to add the health care industry to this pot.

So, one of the great experiments in American governance has been an attempt to have government (mostly the federal government) step in to this breech and either regulate these industries or work in collaboration with them to bring about the results needed by society as a whole. One problem (if not the problem) is that this has been done divorced of constitutional principles. In a system set up to honor and promote the energies and risk-taking of the individual (the original concept of public education was to support this bias), coordination through government of massive industries and segments of our society's economic activity can at best be only a Lernaean Hydra, remedies applied to a body that is naturally resistant to such foreign substances.

If the goal of society is to implement the policies most favorable to the common good, then twenty-first century China is an excellent case study. When the ruling Communist Party oligarchs decide that the country needs to go in a particular direction, e.g., invest in solar power technologies and infrastructure, then it gets done. But such policies are implemented with the common good in mind (as defined by the ruling elite) and not the rights of individual citizens. Such is the trade off. But the question must be posed: What good is a society that does not pursue justice and rule of law for its citizens? Even Plato concedes that the philosopher-king is who is because he is just.

Obviously, the Chinese example is the opposite extreme of what we see in American principles of governance, but that is the point. The American Constitution is dedicated to, first, individual rights and freedom and, second, limited, constrained government. In too many ways, the twentieth and twenty-first century American government has broken loose of its constitutional constraints, and it is this, more than any other factor, that has created the conditions for the current debate. If we are ungovernable, it is only because the United States were (yes, subject / verb agreement is correct in the sense I mean to here employ) not set up to be governed by an omnipresent government coordinating the various segments of our complex, energetic society.

That American businesses and markets do not in many ways act for the common good is here readily acknowledged. But the remedy for this shortcoming is not more and bigger government. Rather, the remedy is to be found in the return to the principles held by the Founders and Western political tradition: personal responsibility and one's sense of duty to neighbor and fellow man, rooted in the justice and watching eye of Providence. It is fashionable in this day and time to be suspicious of the civil religion. Nevertheless, for 200 years it performed the service of knitting Americans together to provide for the common good out of love. That it is no loner given space to do so and that our form of government can not do so is the true present crisis and what, if anything, makes us "an increasingly ungovernable nation."

Disproving The Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) Problem

ADMINISTRATOR'S NOTE: This post was co-written by Craig and Kelly in discussion and brainstorming. These are open speculations on the topic of climate change and are not meant to offer any definitive conclusions. Our interest here is only in trying to get past the current strawmen blocking meaningful advancement of dialogue from both sides, and to offer possible constructions to assist the way forward. Part of the imperative of governance is how our collective social structure (the State) reflects how we handle disagreement. The flip side is how government is supposed to participate in debates of this nature, no pun intended.

Disproving The Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) Problem

After reading through this article and comments, it seems that the author’s stated purpose of “disproving” AGW is a bit ambitious for what he is able to accomplish. Nevertheless, he does successfully highlight the fact that there is a lot of disagreement. The facts do not support the AGW theory nearly as definitively as its supporters claim.

We see a disconnect in the debate on several fronts. First, is the global climate warming? Second, is global warming going to lead to devastating results? Third, is global warming caused by human activity?

If the first two are true, it doesn’t matter whether the third is or not. Somehow the debate keeps centering on wither humans are the cause instead of whether the climate is actually warming. We have some evidence of a warming trend during the 20th century but even that leads to quibbling over whether the trend will reverse itself naturally, whether it is just another natural cycle. The merits of investigating cost-effective remedies are still present regardless of human involvement - the type and mix of remedies change only if humans are significant contributors, but not the need for remedies.

Humans have a poor record of leadership in this area. On one side you have those who are certain (but wrong) and advocate outrageous action, e.g. Heaven’s Gate; and on the other you have those who advocate no action, which is reported to happen with European countries' unwillingness to believe in Hitler’s death camps, or more recently with reports of genocide in Africa.

In Texas you have to have proof of insurance before being allowed to drive on public roads. Does this mean that the State thinks you are going to have a wreck with 100% certainty? Of course not. The insurance is a small cost which mitigates the huge cost of damages from an accident. The probability of you making a claim contributes to the price of the policy. If you are a safe driver, your policy is less expensive.

As for the climate, let’s talk about what would be cheap insurance against a catastrophic claim. Is there something we can do that might have a much smaller cost compared against the worst case scenario. Do we have to believe in Anthropogenic Global Warming, or even a natural warming cycle? No. Good drivers seek protection from outside events as opposed to the State’s mandate which is to make sure bad drivers take responsibility for their actions. Both of which are at the core of conservative ideals.

Driver’s-Ed and defensive driving techniques can be considered as cheap forms of insurance. A low-cost way to reduce the risk. It is disappointing that instead of working on the cheap and easy solution, the debate has degenerated to arguing either that everyone needs $1,000,000 of comprehensive insurance, i.e. the more rabid GW alarmists, or adamantly declaring that we don’t need insurance at all, i.e. demagogues shouting that there is no absolute proof humans are causing climate change and thus should do nothing. If we want to be pragmatic about it, we should be agreeing that even if we can’t be sure whether we are the cause, we definitely don’t want to become part of the problem either. We could talk about cheap and defensive solutions like supporting green house-building techniques, reforestation, and sources of bio-fuel - which has a nation security aspect as we'd wane ourselves from dependence on tin-pot foreign dictators. At least such a discussion would be productive, unlike two sides trying to out-bloviate each other.

Seen this way, insurance is both a sign of personal responsibility – the state’s mandate – and a sign of conservatism, as in conserving the long-term viability of our planet's environment and declaring that you won’t need to rely on others to take care of you if the worst happened. Not only that, there is a national security aspect also, as we'd wane ourselves from dependence on tin-pot foreign dictators.

In the global warming debate, we should discuss the severity of the different scenarios and how much it would cost to mitigate them. We don’t have to believe in the worst case to discuss it. Insurance is about the transference of risk. You don’t believe you will necessarily total your car when you discuss a quote for comprehensive insurance; there are dozens of scenarios less severe for which you seek coverage. You want to know what the cost would be to recover or mitigate the damage. What insurance can we buy against climate change? Let’s talk about that.

Our Debt to Machiavelli

In reading Machiavelli's "Discourses on Livy" - chapter II, I found the following,

...because when there is in the same City (government) a Principality, an Aristocracy, and a Popular Government (Democracy), one watches the other.

This sounds suspiciously like our three branches and their checks and balances. In his study of human forms of government and his theory on how each form degenerates into the next, he covers much ground which hopefully wasn't unfamiliar to our founders.

My question is, why is Machiavelli not more widely read, and what evidence is there of his influence on the Founding of the United States of America? The obstacles toward forming a government of the people were rigorously debated during the Continental Congress (and the Constitutional Congress that followed). Were the lessons of Machiavelli ever credited to him or were they borrowed for the convenience of the general discussion?

Is Torture the Answer?

This is a response to the comment of Craig's in our discussion on Torture.

What is Torture?

Sleep deprivation can be a form of torture. It all depends of the definition. Usually its described by total sleep allowed per day and length of continuous sleep. Letting a prisoner sleep for 12 hours a day is meaningless if you wake them up every 15 minutes.

Maybe this needs another post but it is pointless to argue about the definition of torture if there is no agreement on its effectiveness.

Is Torture Ever Necessary?

Is torture effective? Yes. Be clear, by saying its effective all we're admitting is that an effect was achieved. Whether it was the desired effect, that is an entirely different matter. While torture may be effective, neither is it efficient, nor is it efficacious.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
The word effective is sometimes used in a quantitative way, "being very or not much effective". However it does not inform on the direction (positive or negative) and the comparison to a standard of the given effect. Efficacy, on the other hand, is the ability to produce a desired amount of the desired effect, or success in achieving a given goal. Contrary to efficiency, the focus of efficacy is the achievement as such, not the resources spent in achieving the desired effect. Therefore, what is effective is not necessarily efficacious, and what is efficacious is not necessarily efficient.