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Of course now that he's aware that the mistake was on his side, he has apologised and amended his Twitter posts. Because he wants his followers to get accurate

Of course now that he's aware that the mistake was on his side, he has apologised and amended his Twitter posts. Because he wants his followers to get accurate information that allows them to make informed decisions based on rational thinking, not emotional outrage or base tribal instincts exacerbated by misleading information propagated by echo chambers. Because he understands that preserving a well functioning democracy and dialog is more important than advancing his own interests. Of course.

chatterhead 4y ago
- blowski 4y ago
  In the horseshoe model of politics, those two are not far apart from each other. They both oppose the competent centrist.
  - hoity 4y ago
    The "competent centrist" is a myth though. The centrists, who basically advocate business as usual, are who have given us so many financial crises, wars, poverty and suffering over the decades.
    - batch12 4y ago
      The "incompetent extremist" is not a myth, unfortunately.
    - glitchc 4y ago
      And yet consistent growth, overall better standard of living for all humanity, increased longevity, better quality of life, resuced human diseases, more than sufficient food production to feed every human on the planet (if we can figure out logistics)… yeah. Those unreasonable centrists. All of the events you mention can be attributed to the politics of the extremists.
    - blowski 4y ago
      Not all centrists are competent and not all those who are competent are centrists. Yet far more sustainable prosperity has been brought about more by those leading from the centre compared to those at the fringes.
  - ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
    The opposite of extremism is not centrism. It's something that aggravates me to no end in these discussion (not saying it for you but in general), it is possible to be partisan, have nuanced views on the left and/or the right, and to recognize the current parties don't represent the interests of their constituents. If both parties are aligned on both ends of an axis of issues which are mostly irrelevant to people's daily lives, the answer is not to go to the center of this axis, it's to go orthogonal.
skilled 4y ago
Be that as it may (your sarcasm), what is a person like this doing in congress? He has no grasp on the ability to think twice about what he is saying or doing. Any rational person would first try and understand the root cause of the issue rather than jumping to something as outlandish as "deep state" as the first conclusion. These people jump to stupid conclusions because it somehow validates their ignorant perspective of the world.
- throwoutway 4y ago
  He is not running for Congress, yeah, the article says he is running for Arizona Secretary of State
- chrisseaton 4y ago
  > what is a person like this doing in congress? There's no aptitude test for Congress. People vote for people who represent their views. Being as positive about it as possible, the idea is the representative sets direction and then civil servants, who are tested for aptitude, implement it. People don’t need to be smart to have a valid point of view worth representing. In the UK people mock ministers who don't have health experience running the NHS, or in Belgium an obese person running their health service, for two examples, but the point isn't that they represent the health service, the point is that they represent the users of the health service. (Sometimes that means representing the needs of the health service to the rest of the Government.)
  - School-Cotton 4y ago
    In fact, I personally think one of the many reasons the US is less well-run than other rich democracies is that the professional civil service has a much lower level of responsibility (and prestige) compared to elected representatives.
    - NateEag 4y ago
      I think the US being the largest rich democracy might have something to do with that, too. The cultural history of valuing individual freedom above everything, so much so as to start a war rather than pay "unjust" taxes, also seems relevant to me. Society is all about giving up individual freedoms for the group's benefit, and the US's founding mythology is kind of the opposite.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
happytoexplain 4y ago
Note that I couldn't tell you were being sarcastic until a second reading. I honestly thought he had atoned for the mistake and you had a lot of respect for him. There's a good reason a lot of people on HN use /s. It's not just a joke.

chatterhead 4y ago

blowski 4y ago
In the horseshoe model of politics, those two are not far apart from each other. They both oppose the competent centrist.
- hoity 4y ago
  The "competent centrist" is a myth though. The centrists, who basically advocate business as usual, are who have given us so many financial crises, wars, poverty and suffering over the decades.
  - batch12 4y ago
    The "incompetent extremist" is not a myth, unfortunately.
  - glitchc 4y ago
    And yet consistent growth, overall better standard of living for all humanity, increased longevity, better quality of life, resuced human diseases, more than sufficient food production to feed every human on the planet (if we can figure out logistics)… yeah. Those unreasonable centrists. All of the events you mention can be attributed to the politics of the extremists.
  - blowski 4y ago
    Not all centrists are competent and not all those who are competent are centrists. Yet far more sustainable prosperity has been brought about more by those leading from the centre compared to those at the fringes.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
  The opposite of extremism is not centrism. It's something that aggravates me to no end in these discussion (not saying it for you but in general), it is possible to be partisan, have nuanced views on the left and/or the right, and to recognize the current parties don't represent the interests of their constituents. If both parties are aligned on both ends of an axis of issues which are mostly irrelevant to people's daily lives, the answer is not to go to the center of this axis, it's to go orthogonal.

skilled 4y ago

Be that as it may (your sarcasm), what is a person like this doing in congress? He has no grasp on the ability to think twice about what he is saying or doing. Any rational person would first try and understand the root cause of the issue rather than jumping to something as outlandish as "deep state" as the first conclusion. These people jump to stupid conclusions because it somehow validates their ignorant perspective of the world.

throwoutway 4y ago
He is not running for Congress, yeah, the article says he is running for Arizona Secretary of State
chrisseaton 4y ago
> what is a person like this doing in congress? There's no aptitude test for Congress. People vote for people who represent their views. Being as positive about it as possible, the idea is the representative sets direction and then civil servants, who are tested for aptitude, implement it. People don’t need to be smart to have a valid point of view worth representing. In the UK people mock ministers who don't have health experience running the NHS, or in Belgium an obese person running their health service, for two examples, but the point isn't that they represent the health service, the point is that they represent the users of the health service. (Sometimes that means representing the needs of the health service to the rest of the Government.)
- School-Cotton 4y ago
  In fact, I personally think one of the many reasons the US is less well-run than other rich democracies is that the professional civil service has a much lower level of responsibility (and prestige) compared to elected representatives.
  - NateEag 4y ago
    I think the US being the largest rich democracy might have something to do with that, too. The cultural history of valuing individual freedom above everything, so much so as to start a war rather than pay "unjust" taxes, also seems relevant to me. Society is all about giving up individual freedoms for the group's benefit, and the US's founding mythology is kind of the opposite.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

happytoexplain 4y ago

Note that I couldn't tell you were being sarcastic until a second reading. I honestly thought he had atoned for the mistake and you had a lot of respect for him. There's a good reason a lot of people on HN use /s. It's not just a joke.