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We can all hope that you are never given a position of responsibility in the public policy realm. Many would die.

ryanwaggoner 7y ago
One imagines you would have told Churchill the same thing. Or any other leader who used their platform to lift people up in their darkest hour so they do better than they thought possible.
- true_religion 7y ago
  Neither you nor any of our current politicians are anything like Churchill. It is not enough to mandate belt tightening during a crisis, you must also get out there and give a rousing speech so people will want to tighten their belts. If you just provide “good” policy, but no framework to make it palatable then you have failed before you started.
  - oliwarner 7y ago
    I don't think anybody was suggesting that we or our politicians are anything like Churchill. And I think that we agree that our politicians need to do their jobs better. But many of today's leaders got where they are by division, not unification. Trump would have to do a pretty serious U-turn. Boris Johnson thinks he's Churchill but half the country hates him. These are not simple times. I'd wonder if gamification (eg stayed-indoors points) could be used to improve this through soft social pressure but I'd suggest the overlap between people out protesting and ignoring rules are probably not the sort to want to engage with that. Maybe we need this. A drawn-out decimation to teach future generations about how harmful people who insist on putting themselves ahead of the group can be.
    - downerending 7y ago
      > Maybe we need this. A drawn-out decimation to teach future generations... You're hoping for death and destruction just to teach people your lesson? Really?? Personally, I'll be glad to be wrong about everything to avoid that outcome.
dang 7y ago
Please don't react by making the thread even worse, regardless of how provocative another comment was or you feel it was. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- downerending 7y ago
  Sorry. Too much booze. Also, someone on the Internet was wrong. :-/

One imagines you would have told Churchill the same thing. Or any other leader who used their platform to lift people up in their darkest hour so they do better than they thought possible.

true_religion 7y ago
Neither you nor any of our current politicians are anything like Churchill. It is not enough to mandate belt tightening during a crisis, you must also get out there and give a rousing speech so people will want to tighten their belts. If you just provide “good” policy, but no framework to make it palatable then you have failed before you started.
- oliwarner 7y ago
  I don't think anybody was suggesting that we or our politicians are anything like Churchill. And I think that we agree that our politicians need to do their jobs better. But many of today's leaders got where they are by division, not unification. Trump would have to do a pretty serious U-turn. Boris Johnson thinks he's Churchill but half the country hates him. These are not simple times. I'd wonder if gamification (eg stayed-indoors points) could be used to improve this through soft social pressure but I'd suggest the overlap between people out protesting and ignoring rules are probably not the sort to want to engage with that. Maybe we need this. A drawn-out decimation to teach future generations about how harmful people who insist on putting themselves ahead of the group can be.
  - downerending 7y ago
    > Maybe we need this. A drawn-out decimation to teach future generations... You're hoping for death and destruction just to teach people your lesson? Really?? Personally, I'll be glad to be wrong about everything to avoid that outcome.

dang 7y ago

Please don't react by making the thread even worse, regardless of how provocative another comment was or you feel it was. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

downerending 7y ago
Sorry. Too much booze. Also, someone on the Internet was wrong. :-/