14 ms·

> Yup. Politicians and governments are, by and large, oblivious to the fact that laws induce behavioral changes. Come on. Politicians are some of the smartest

by cheez 15y ago

> Yup. Politicians and governments are, by and large, oblivious to the fact that laws induce behavioral changes. Come on. Politicians are some of the smartest people in the society. Do you really think they are oblivious or do you think they're just looking out for #1?

pavel_lishin 15y ago
> Politicians are some of the smartest people in the society. [citation needed] Not that I necessarily disagree, mind you; nor do I want to drag the whole social vs. whatever we call it now intelligence.
- cheez 15y ago
  I'd say it takes a certain degree of smarts to be able to manipulate people as well as politicians do!
maxharris 15y ago
But are they really looking out for themselves by doing so? A captain that helps sink the ship he's on (and keeps him from drowning) is not "looking out for #1" long-term.
- bilbo0s 15y ago
  He is if he has a dinghy no one else knows about.
  - maxharris 15y ago
    The problem with this is that there is no such dinghy in real life. Immigration is hard (try it sometime), and there's no guarantee that there will be anywhere better to go.
T-hawk 15y ago
The closest answer would be willful obliviousness. Like how voting for war funding means borrowing the money from sometime in the future. Politicians know these consequences on some level, but willfully just push them out of consideration. Whatever politicians pushed this in California were counting up the tax revenue that would be collected from Amazon. They couldn't have truly been ignorant that Amazon would pull out, but just kind of put the thought aside to push through the tax plan. edit: I like btilly's point in the child post too.
- btilly 15y ago
  You have an excellent point and I think that it is even more cynical than that. They know full well that they wouldn't collect that revenue, but by passing the bill they can pretend that they will, and then they can add that line item to the budget to make it easier to balance on paper (which it has to be before it can be passed).
- pavel_lishin 15y ago
  Nothing that happens after you're out of office matters.
- cheez 15y ago
  I'm trying to understand how anyone votes for these people.

by cheez 15y ago

pavel_lishin 15y ago

> Politicians are some of the smartest people in the society. [citation needed] Not that I necessarily disagree, mind you; nor do I want to drag the whole social vs. whatever we call it now intelligence.

cheez 15y ago
I'd say it takes a certain degree of smarts to be able to manipulate people as well as politicians do!

maxharris 15y ago

But are they really looking out for themselves by doing so? A captain that helps sink the ship he's on (and keeps him from drowning) is not "looking out for #1" long-term.

bilbo0s 15y ago
He is if he has a dinghy no one else knows about.
- maxharris 15y ago
  The problem with this is that there is no such dinghy in real life. Immigration is hard (try it sometime), and there's no guarantee that there will be anywhere better to go.

T-hawk 15y ago

The closest answer would be willful obliviousness. Like how voting for war funding means borrowing the money from sometime in the future. Politicians know these consequences on some level, but willfully just push them out of consideration. Whatever politicians pushed this in California were counting up the tax revenue that would be collected from Amazon. They couldn't have truly been ignorant that Amazon would pull out, but just kind of put the thought aside to push through the tax plan. edit: I like btilly's point in the child post too.

btilly 15y ago
You have an excellent point and I think that it is even more cynical than that. They know full well that they wouldn't collect that revenue, but by passing the bill they can pretend that they will, and then they can add that line item to the budget to make it easier to balance on paper (which it has to be before it can be passed).
pavel_lishin 15y ago
Nothing that happens after you're out of office matters.
cheez 15y ago
I'm trying to understand how anyone votes for these people.