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A National Problem: Politics and the “human scale”

Posted January 3, 2008

"How is it that a reasonably intelligent man can perfectly well drive through traffic without killing himself, but ask the same man his thoughts on global warming, the war on poverty or public education… and what you get is such preposterous nonsense you can barely believe your own ears?" — Bill Bonner, The Daily Reckoning.

Blogger's note: Our friend Bill Bonner wrote an interesting piece on the human predicament in our modern world of national news and global economics in The Daily Reckoning this week. And I thought you might like to take a look at it. You can find the entire article here or read on for more information.

by Bill Bonner

Baltimore – (TFN):  "It is largely a matter of scale… in fact, it could all be reduced to a matter of scale," said a visitor yesterday.

We were talking about the way things work…and why there is such a big difference between the way people are able to function reasonably well in small groups and the way they seem to blow themselves up in large ones.

"Yes," our friend went on, "Once you get beyond what is usually known as the 'human scale,' things lose all their meaning."

It is a question that has puzzled us for years: how is it that a reasonably intelligent man can perfectly well drive through traffic without killing himself, but ask the same man his thoughts on global warming, the war on poverty or public education…and what you get is such preposterous nonsense you can barely believe your own ears?

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We have mentioned many times that there is a world of difference between a New England town meeting and the U.S. federal government. The size of the New England town meeting is one that the human brain is prepared to deal with. At the town meeting, a man can know which of the people he is dealing with is a moron and which is a self-interested hustler.

But when it comes to national politics, the same man is totally ill-equipped…like a mechanic who shows up with a pair of pruning shears…or a veterinarian with a wrench in his hand. He is ignorant of the facts…innocent of the procedures…and completely helpless in front of the controls. He can't tell the connivers from the honest bumblers. He has lost the points of reference that are meaningful to him. He is like a driver who looks ahead and sees only fog. He turns the steering wheel to the left…but the car lurches to the right. He puts on the breaks and the car speeds up!

What can the poor fellow do…but resort to lies and such uber-simplifications as take your breath away. "If we don't fight the commies in Vietnam," he said in 1965, "we'll have to fight them in California!" "If you want better educated people, you have to spend more on public education," he said in 1975. "If we don't stand up to the Evil Empire, it will take over the world," he said in 1985. "If you invest in a balanced portfolio of stocks, you will always make money over the long run," he said in 1995. Read on to find out exactly what Bill thinks of public education, poverty, housing and global investing.

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