|
Sender: "Bruce Schuman"
Subject: Report from Public Choice Society
Date: Mon, Mar 24, 2014
Msg: 100809
From: List for transpartisan leaders and innovators [mailto:TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG] On Behalf Of Michael Strong Sent: Monday, March 10, 2014 9:52 AM To: TRANSPARTISAN@LISTS.THATAWAY.ORG Subject: Re: [TRANSPARTISAN] Report from Public Choice Society
This is Michael Strong, co-founder of FLOW, a non-profit devoted to entrepreneurial solutions to world problems. Because our focus is entrepreneurial, most libertarians are sympathetic to our approach. Because we care about many of the same issues as do people on the left, many of our proposals are supported by those on the left. This niche has led me into various conversations with many in the transpartisan movement. See www.flowidealism and the various sites mentioned at the top of that page for more detail.
With respect to Rick's post:
I'm very glad to see public choice mentioned here.
Public choice and its cousin, the study of political ignorance (which you mention in your first point), have made many of those who study economics very skeptical about the use of government to do good. Instead, the implication of both public choice and political ignorance is that the more than government tries to do, the more likely it is that special interests will be the primary beneficiaries.
In order to create a transpartisan movement that is intellectually respectable it will be essential to address the issues of public choice (the mechanisms of government failure) and the fact of political ignorance (always and everywhere the vast majority of citizens are stunningly ignorant regarding the most basic facts of political debate).
On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 12:30 PM, Rick Raddatz wrote:
I agree Michael that the issue of political ignorance looms large.
Here's a few more thoughts then...
Right now we have a structure of government where many complain it doesn't matter who you vote for because the system is rigged for constant decline.
I imagine a future where it doesn't matter who you vote for because the system is rigged for constant improvement.
That said, getting to such a future will require at least one moment in time where a generation reaches a new level of enlightenment -- so our effort to engage in D&D is not wasted even if political ignorance before and after the enlightenment is rational.
On Mar 10, 2014, at 9:18 AM, Michael Strong wrote:
I'm very glad to see public choice mentioned here.
Public choice and its cousin, the study of political ignorance (which you mention in your first point), have made many of those who study economics very skeptical about the use of government to do good. Instead, the implication of both public choice and political ignorance is that the more than government tries to do, the more likely it is that special interests will be the primary beneficiaries.
In order to create a transpartisan movement that is intellectually respectable it will be essential to address the issues of public choice (the mechanisms of government failure) and the fact of political ignorance (always and everywhere the vast majority of citizens are stunningly ignorant regarding the most basic facts of political debate).
On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 12:07 AM, Rick Raddatz wrote:
I just returned from the annual conference of the Public Choice Society. Public Choice is a branch of economics that uses economic analysis to study everything besides capitalism.
Here are a few takeaways that are relevant to transpartisanship:
1) 60% of adults can't name their senators, and this had remained steady across time and across all large democracies -- it's not just an American thing. Public choice economics proves that it is rational for voters to choose ignorance -- as the odds of any one vote making the difference is practically zero. The implication for transpartisanship and D&D is that we should focus on the "sports fans" of politics -- those who follow politics for enjoyment -- rather that try to reach out to everyone.
2) One of government's primary purposes is, of course, to correct market failures. However, public choice economics reveals with great mathematical precision just how dramatic -- and likely -- government's failures are. The implication is that we need to fix government before government will be able to effectively regulate capitalism.
3) The transpartisan philosophy of pentanomics http://Xiosoft.com/pentanomics.docx was received well by the leadership of the society, and I have some leads on funding and possible co-authors for the paper. Note that this is a rather right-wing libertarian crowd supporting the government's aggressive pursuit of social justice as long as it happens under fiscally conservative limits.
4) The Age of Enlightenment happened. I'm talking about the period between 1550 and 1800 where reason started to win against the establishment at the time. I mention this because transpartisanship (I believe) will require a second Age of Enlightenment, and the fact it happened once means it can happen again.
- Rick Raddatz 303-949-8075
_____
To unsubscribe from the TRANSPARTISAN list, click the following link: http://lists.thataway.org/scripts/wa-THATAWAY.exe?SUBED1=TRANSPARTISAN &A=1
-- Michael Strong CEO and Chief Visionary Officer FLOW, Inc. www.flowidealism.org
For the definitive Conscious Capitalism book, see Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems, by Michael Strong with John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods Market, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Hernando de Soto, Co-Chair of the U.N. Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, and others, and listen to John Mackey's audio CD Passion and Purpose: The Power of Conscious Capitalism, both available at amazon.com or www.flowidealism.org.
Liberating the Entrepreneurial Spirit for Good
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
Leonardo Da Vinci
-- Michael Strong CEO and Chief Visionary Officer FLOW, Inc. www.flowidealism.org
For the definitive Conscious Capitalism book, see Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the World's Problems, by Michael Strong with John Mackey, CEO Whole Foods Market, Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Hernando de Soto, Co-Chair of the U.N. Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor, and others, and listen to John Mackey's audio CD Passion and Purpose: The Power of Conscious Capitalism, both available at amazon.com or www.flowidealism.org.
Liberating the Entrepreneurial Spirit for Good
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
Leonardo Da Vinci
_____
To unsubscribe from the TRANSPARTISAN list, click the following link: http://lists.thataway.org/scripts/wa-THATAWAY.exe?SUBED1=TRANSPARTISAN &A=1
|
