Posted on 10/07/2016 6:30:32 AM PDT by NOBO2012
Washington’s ‘governing elite’ think Americans are morons. How is this news?
Recently, Johns Hopkins University political scientists Jennifer Bachner and Benjamin Ginsberg conducted a study of the unglamorous D.C. bureaucrat. These are the people who keep the federal government humming — the Hill staffers, the project managers and all those desk workers who vaguely describe themselves as “analysts.”
As Bachner and Ginsberg argue, civil servants exercise real power over how the government operates. They write and enforce rules and regulations. They might not decide what becomes law, but they have a hand in how laws are drawn up and how laws are implemented.
For all their influence, though, nearly all of these technocrats are unelected, and they spend most of their time with people who are just like them — other highly educated folk who jog conspicuously in college tees and own a collection of NPR totes.
In their new book, which is part ethnography and part polemic, Bachner and Ginsberg argue that Washington’s bureaucrats have grown too dismissive of the people they are supposed to serve. Bachner and Ginsberg recently sent around an informal survey to selected members of this technocratic class, and the results, they say, were shocking.
“Many civil servants expressed utter contempt for the citizens they served,” they write in their book, “What Washington Gets Wrong.” “Further, we found a wide gulf between the life experiences of ordinary Americans and the denizens of official Washington. We were left deeply worried about the health and future of popular government in the United States.” – WaPo
Of course the point of this WaPo article is not that our government “betters” think we are all morons, it’s that Bachner and Gisnberg’s conclusions are not based on a “scientific” survey; since when did that become a standard for reportage? And need I point out the number of times the “scientific studies” conducted at the behest of the “governing elite” to promote a predetermined agenda have been reversed, debunked or quietly written over?
Butt we’re the morons
And Jeff Guo also wrote the article to demonstrate that the ruling elites are correct: in both their assumptions and remedies:
A lot of this elitism is probably justifiable. When only 36 percent of adults can name the three branches of government, you wouldn’t want to hand over control of FDA to, say, your next-door neighbor.
Yeah; nor would I want to turn my health care over to Obama’s Death Panels, butt I didn’t get a choice.
“Call it the stupidity of the American people, or whatever.” – J. Gruber
If these technocrats are suspicious of public opinion, it is only that they believe that average Americans might change their minds if they had enough time to study the policy issue in depth.
Finally, Americans have changed their minds.
Finally, Jeff wraps up his argument with the tone of superiority befitting a member of the elite political class:
But respect, as the saying goes, is a two-way street, and Americans have a long and ignoble tradition of denigrating expertise. Today, nearly 40 percent of adults think there isn’t evidence for global warming. Skeptical parents won't vaccinate their children, endangering their communities with breakouts of preventable diseases like measles. So maybe we can make a deal. If we want experts to listen to our opinions, we might also do them the courtesy of sometimes listening to their opinions, too.
Thus proving the Bachner and Ginsberg’s case. How dare you ignorant sluts question the existence of global warming!? Bravo WaPo, well done indeed.
Butt we’re the morons, because, you know, GLOBAL WARMING!
Posted from: Michelle Obama’s Mirror
I love the way Calvin’s dad makes up things to tell him.
I remember once when my son was small and we were travling in the countryside I told him that those giant rolls of hay were cow eggs.
My dad told me they were Shredded Wheat and were being sent to the cereal factory.
The sun doesn't actually set in the west and rise in the east. It only appears to as a result of the earth spinning on its axis. The sun basically stays put. :)
It’s because everything from the east wants to go to the west.
The BBC series “Yes Minister” is the best explanation of how government works that I’ve seen.
“In their new book, which is part ethnography and part polemic, Bachner and Ginsberg argue that Washington’s bureaucrats have grown too dismissive of the people they are supposed to serve. “
Gee, ya think?
"Why am I all full of sand and tootsie rolls"
er, that :) at the end meant I wasn’t being serious.
And I actually said the sun “basically” stays put. Do you seriously think its orbital motion around the galaxy can be detected on a daily basis... by naked eye. The sun also ‘wobbles’ a bit due to the gravitational effects of the planets, mostly Jupiter, tugging on it.
___________________________________
From wiki...
The Moon illusion is an optical illusion which causes the Moon to appear larger near the horizon than it does higher up in the sky. It has been known since ancient times and recorded by various cultures. [1] [2] The explanation of this illusion is still debated. [3] [4] [2]
Contents
1 Proof of illusion
2 Possible explanations
2.1 Refraction and distance
2.2 Apparent distance hypothesis
2.3 Relative size hypothesis
2.4 Angle of regard hypothesis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion
_____________________________________________
Also see
THE MOON ILLUSION
http://www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycfair/moon.htm
The sun basically stays put. :)
does Drudge know about this?
You're batting 0%, aren't you? I made the point for the exact opposite. That it's the earth that actually does the moving, in regards to the apparent east to west motion of celestial objects in the sky.
Did you miss my explanation that I wasn’t being serious?
In any case, you’d be surprised at how little the average person knows about a lot of basic stuff like this. I took part in amateur astronomy sessions for years where we offered free views through our telescopes. And you wouldn’t believe some of the questions we were asked, by full grown adults! The kids actually knew a lot more than many of the adults.
That said, I did not think there would be anyone here that actually thought the sun truly moves across the sky ( revolves around the earth).
...however, there are more than a few here, as anywhere else, that certainly do belief a lot dumb crazy stuff.
That is also an illusion based on our perspective. Our sun is moving quite rapidly. Nothing in this universe stays put.
***I love the way Calvin’s dad makes up things to tell him.***
I love the one where his dad convinces him that everything before 1939 was black and white.
I quit reading the comics when C&H ceased publishing. I have the books of his cartoons.
Does no one take Einstein seriously? All motion is relative. It all depends on your frame of reference, and no frame of reference is privileged.
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