Morning after, 2018Election. Ducking hard questions. R. Samuelson

Robert Samuelson a columnist for the Washington Post echoed some of my feelings so well that I want to share some of it over here.  

Considering the 2018 election results (not a complete disaster but, ...) it seems a fairly sure bet that the next two years will be filled with the Democratic House investigating our Russian obligate President and Trump’s all around lawlessness, while the GOP Senate continues focusing on completing their stacking of our Court system with ideological judges probably even more extreme than Kavanaugh.

On the "public dialogue" front Republicans will continue lathering-up their faithful with fear, hatred, and contempt for “others” while doubling down on their faith-based rejection of learning from objective facts and constructive dialogue - topped off by their all around placid acceptance of the malicious calculated lie as their best political weapon.

Democrats hold the key.  Continue avoiding the deliberate brainwashing messaging of FOX News and what Trump-Republicans are force-feeding Americans and Democrats will continue losing the hearts and minds of rational people, as yesterday’s election demonstrated.  It needed to be a clear landslide for American Pluralistic Principles and America's government of the people, by the people and for the people - instead it was a whimper.

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Robert Samuelson, Washington Post, Nov. 6, 2018

Ducking hard questions, we all lost the elections

WASHINGTON – We all lost the fiercely contested midterm elections.

They were a referendum on President Donald Trump, which suited both Republicans and Democrats just fine. Democrats were betting that the public had increasingly tired of Trump’s lies and his vile style. Trump and his supporters believed that Democrats were again underestimating his popular appeal.

What was missing was any realistic engagement with the difficult issues facing the country. In democracies, elections serve not only to select the country’s leadership. They also aim to gauge public opinion on the hard issues and to see whether some sort of consensus is possible. The campaign featured very little of this constructive politics.

What are some of the hard issues? There’s no secret. …

…

… Under the best of circumstances, it would be difficult to achieve. Politicians want to win. By and large, they tell voters what voters want to hear, even if it is exaggerated, selective or dishonest.

But the fixation on Trump and his antics turned a longshot into an impossibility. It destroyed the prospects of anything resembling rational debate. Indeed, public opinion may be worse informed at the end of this campaign than at the beginning. In this sense, the campaign may have been wasted.

Read the complete column at,

https://durangoherald.com/articles/249241-ducking-hard-questions-we-all-lost-the-elections

Robert Samuelson is a columnist for The Washington Post. © 2018 The Washington Post Writers Group

Flashback, April 2018 a stab at our dysfunctional dialogue, Colorado Democratic Assembly.

This is side two of the flier I handed out at the 2018 Colorado Democratic Assembly/Convention (side one).  I notice I've improved a bit in subsequent writings, but will leave this version as it was. (Oh and it looked nicer formatted in two columns, but its the substance that matters so hope this will do.)

A few thoughts regarding Climate Science and our dysfunctional public dialogue

I’ve spent a couple decades attempting to debate climate science contrarians.  This has given me insights into the faith-based mind in action and the games they employ to derail discussions. I’ve distilled my experiences into the following list of observations regarding our dysfunctional public dialogue.  It’s incomplete and improvable.  Still I hope it’s a useful effort, food for thought if nothing else. 

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Uncertainties vs. known Physical Certainties

Is it a disservice to constantly allow trivial uncertainties to become the focal point of the public discussion, to the exclusion of facing the known certainties.

In real life when we get overwhelmed and mired in increasingly complex problem, we stop.  Back off a little, get reoriented with the big picture and what we do know with reasonable certainty, then move forward again.  

I’m not saying ignore uncertainties!  But keep reminding all of the overriding fundamental certainties!   Thus putting those trivial pursuits into real world perspective.

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Map vs. Territory Problem

Scientists are Cartographers mapping out the geophysical realities of our planet, the Territory if you will.  They do the best they can with the data they have available.

Too often we assume that until our scientists can define all aspects with statistical certainty, we should assume it doesn’t exist.  That’s getting lost in the Map and forgetting we actually exist within the Territory and had better beware, (which incidentally, doesn’t care if we get it or not.) 

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Sloppy usage of “Natural Variability”