Irrational People Cannot be Persuaded

cultml:

So
it is with the American electorate.  Some people for whom I care very
deeply oppose Republican allies of Donald Trump, even though they
express strong agreement with Trump’s policies.  My friends want lower
taxes, but will vote for politicians who promise to raise taxes.  When
this dissonance is brought to their attention, their response always
begins with, “Yes, but …”  The rest is always bafflingly irrelevant.

It took me many years to settle in to this fact of life.  Good people who mean well can pave the road to Hell.  What can we do?

I
simply let them know that I disagree, but not to press the issue to the
point of severing the relationship.  If all I can do is to keep the
door open, that is better than burning the bridges forever.  There is
always time for that later.

Such
people pose a real danger to the nation, as much so as did the Nazi
brownshirts in 1930s Germany.  There is a certain point beyond which
their growing numbers can overwhelm those who practice common sense.

Because of irrational voters, we now face the fait accompli
of an impending Democrat takeover of the House of Representatives.  
This might well turn out to be disastrous, unless a degree of common
sense is adopted by the least radical of the Democrats.

Irrational People Cannot be Persuaded

Do we still have a Congress or is it becoming a parliament?

cultml:

The point is, that sort of theory of voting sounds a lot more like a
European parliament than our American democratic republic. Are we voting
for the people we believe will best represent our individual values and
serve our specific needs or the ones who will just represent one more
party-line vote in a closely divided dance in the D.C. swamp? If it’s
the latter, then we’re really losing something which made the great
American experiment such a unique model on the world stage. And that’s
kind of sad.

and what did we install in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the mistakes that made both those places so intractable

Do we still have a Congress or is it becoming a parliament?

Addressing Global ‘Fragility’ — Congress Tries To Get Better At Doing The Wrong Things

cultml:

…Can the problem be solved by spending more tax dollars on foreign aid, even doing so more efficiently, or are there other geopolitical reasons for global “fragility” and violence?

How about the Islamic extremism being funded or promoted by Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan or the debt-trap diplomacy of China, efforts which
far exceed even an enhanced U.S. foreign aid budget? Perhaps
hard-headed diplomacy and the option of military force might be more
persuasive.

The war in Afghanistan, for example, was over in months. Afterward, the United States and the international community including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) tried to do exactly what is being proposed in H.R. 5273 and by the Institute of Peace.

Hundreds of billions have been spent. That effort
would have succeeded even without better coordination and greater
efficiency. It failed because Pakistan chose to continue its proxy war
against Afghanistan by supporting the Taliban, the Haqqani network and
other Islamic extremists in order to maintain Afghanistan as a client state and exclude the influence of India.

…The formula remains the same: you get to the Taliban through Pakistan and you get to Pakistan through China.

Similarly, rather than constructing
legislation for more foreign aid, Congress should eliminate the legal
and financial incentives for mass illegal migration, in future offering only results-based aid to Mexico and Central America. And build a wall.

nation building is possible

nation building is possible

if we learn from our mistakes

match government to governed

teach liberty not democracy

frame from their culture not ours

win the culture not the hearts

don’t win their minds work them

grow up and us force when necessary

Addressing Global ‘Fragility’ — Congress Tries To Get Better At Doing The Wrong Things