Posted on 03/19/2010 11:35:25 AM PDT by SpareChange
Fly By Wire: My Two Cents On Heading to a Crash
By David J. Aland 19 March 2010
Much has been made lately about the sudden accelerations of Toyota vehicles. The automaker has offered every possible explanation – floor mats, driver error, sticky pedals – but failed to make it stop happening, and firmly resisted the idea that the computerized “fly by wire” system in the newer models somehow has a “glitch” that leads to these inexplicable events. As the happy owner of two Toyotas, I have experienced this “ghost in the machine” when one of my vehicles, for the better part of a year, would periodically refuse to start. Hundreds of repair shop hours later, Toyota simply swapped me that vehicle for a new one. So far as I know, they never figured it out – but the answer was plain to me: when you make something too complex, you can’t predict what it will do.
It’s a good analogy for the current bucket of worms the entire healthcare debate has become. Starting with reasonably good intentions, our President has allowed the hapless Speaker of the House and the clueless Senate Majority Leader to jury-rig a veritable Rube Goldberg series of legislative gaffes into something Obama risibly hopes to make the signature achievement of his Presidency. And like Toyota, he has no idea why the whole thing has accelerated uncontrollably in unpredictable directions.
A recent Wall Street Journal poll indicates that 48% of Americans think the bill(s) pending parliamentary prestidigitation in Congress are a bad idea, and only 36% think that they are a good idea. While this may be enough for Rep. Hoyer to declare “most Americans support this”, most statisticians, whether Republicans or not, would disagree. Poll after poll, special election after special election, Americans are clearly expressing their dissatisfaction with closed-door politics, backroom deals, and the callous lies of politicians who seem to believe that the public is too stupid to understand what’s going on.
Indeed, with rumors of the toxic procedural games being contemplated to grease this pig into law without the courtesy of the least bit of lipstick, the President went on Fox News to characterize this prostitution of the legislative process as a minor procedural kerfluffle. It’s as if the Democrats have simply stopped listening to Americans. Or perhaps stopped caring.
But it appears that this Administration has discovered that governance is far more complex than expected, and chosen, like Toyota, to simply deny the existence of the unpredicted outcomes. This is not an aberration – it has become the signature behavior of this White House and the President’s Party.
Having promised to “reset” America’s standing in the world, the Administration has snubbed Britain, annoyed France, alienated Germany, and histrionically scolded Israel while blithely ignoring the predations of Palestine. The President has even managed to snub the same Nobel Committee that awarded him the highly speculative Nobel Prize last year. Iran is gleefully building bombs while the President frets about having a better dialog. Mexican drug gangs are killing American diplomats, but the President muses about closer cooperation.
The White House and it’s co-dependents in Congress continue to demonstrate that governance is complex, unpredictable, and beyond their capability to manage. The current bill(s) which the Democrats propose to sneak into law will massively accelerate the already overwhelming national debt. The deterioration of relations with our allies continues to isolate the United States, and encourage our adversaries (if, indeed, this Administration understands that they have adversaries other than the usual political ones).
But denial is more than just a river for both carmakers and politicians. Daily, Robert Gibbs entertains the White House press corps with denials that the Administration has offered to buy off opponents (look up Congressmen Sestak and Matheson), while making caricatures of the opposition. The President who campaigned on fairness, transparency, and bi-partisanship has become the epitome of political parlor tricks, hidden deals, and one-sided debates.
Irritating yet more of our allies, the President has called off his travel plans to stay home for the final sprint on healthcare reform. Whether that final sprint ends in a victory lap or a hideous crash remains to be seen.
Like some Toyota drivers, he seems to have forgotten how to put the car in neutral – and like some Toyota executives, he has also forgotten that when you make something too complex, you may not like how it turns out.
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David J. Aland is a retired Naval Officer with a graduate degree in National Security Affairs from the U. S. Naval War College.
For a retired naval officer, the author ain't too bright.
Our President has NO good intentions.
The unpredictable complexity from this bill could be alleviated by scrapping the entire thing, working out the components separately and submitting them piecemeal.
That way the parts we would like [removing interstate restrictions] would get through and the provisions the majority of Americans don’t want [forcing us all to buy health insurance that includes things covered that the government chooses for us] would be left out.
Oh, wait. That would reflect popular will too much. Nevermind.
Most likely the reason the car wouldn’t start is the sensor on the main shaft was bad.
No, no, no, a ghost is a much better and scarier explanation. Please don’t introduce science into this religious discussion.
M. Aland is assuming that Soetoro wants "better health care for all" or some such and will be disappointed in the total degradation of Medicine that will result from this. Aland is wrong. Health Care per se is of no consequence whatever to this President and the rest of the radical Left. Control is the be all and end all of this process, control and the end of Constitutional restraints on Party Power. The first stage of the Revolution occurred in November 2008. The Red October phase is about to occur.
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