Monday, October 20, 2008

Is there any point debating with William Kristol?

His column this week is so full of self-contradictions and poor thinking that it's very tempting to point them out. But the fundamental point of his column is that the Joe-the-plumbers of the country are a better guide to how to run things than anyone else. He says, for example,
Most of the recent mistakes of American public policy, and most of the contemporary delusions of American public life, haven’t come from an ignorant and excitable public. They’ve been produced by highly educated and sophisticated elites.
Does this mean that we are in agreement that the recent mistakes of American public policy have been the product of people like him (an elite) and the non-thinking fools (like Bush) who took their advice? If we agree on that, then the only question is whether this has been a good thing. Apparently Kristol likes the results produced by this combination of neo-conservative elites and Bush-the-plumber followers. So perhaps there is nothing to talk about. And I guess that his column is simply a way to demonstrate how Joe thinks, which is not very well.

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