a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment by b_b

I think you're right. All the party results seem to show is that we have a grand apathy toward party politics. I heard that this was the lowest voter turnout since WWII. That's incredible, but not as incredible as the grand pronouncements we keep having to hear in the media about why the election turned out like it did. To me, the most obvious thing we can glean from the results is that people just don't see the point anymore in voting for one party over another. But the party not in power is always going to have the upper hand in midterms, because their people are more dissatisfied than the others, and therefore more motivated to get out there.

People will see why voting matters, however, when the Court guts the ACA by validating a ridiculous challenge to the way the law is worded (arguments will be in spring, I think, so we have until summer for the law to be all but thrown out). It will be Roberts's way of showing conservatives he is still one of them while simultaneously being able to blame Congress for the error. Brilliant. So much for being on your parents' insurance until age 26, kids.





user-inactivated  ·  3629 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We've got a variation on the train track problem. And they say philosophy has no practical import.

How many lives will be helped and how much money will be saved if one of the conservative members of the SC eats it in the next four months?

b_b  ·  3629 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Yeah, but in the classic train track problem you're supposed to feel bad making the choice...

user-inactivated  ·  3629 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Which is why it needs an update. There'd be more philosophy majors if visceral positive feedback loops were associated with all the famous thought experiments.

user-inactivated  ·  3627 days ago  ·  link  ·  

What sort of visceral feedback loops are we talking about here?

user-inactivated  ·  3627 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Getting to kill idiots.