9/3/2008 11:42 PMRene' wrote:
What's your take on the Palin connection to the Alaskan Independence Party? Are Republicans desperate enough to elect a woman who believes Alaska should secede? Reply to this
10/1/2008 1:22 PM
Ken wrote:
John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin illustrates the critical role of judgment in evaluating political candidates. Until he hijacked Barack Obama’s theme of “Change,” John McCain frequently insisted that he had the experience and judgment to be a better president than Obama. Notice that he and most other politicians seem to refer to “experience” and “judgment” as two separate, if related, qualifications. Experience can be seen as the sum of one’s contact with life events, while judgment is being able to make good decisions on important issues, which does seem different.
Yet, if you take a step back and consider what experience actually does for a politician (or anyone, for that matter), you will find yourself focusing on judgment. Think about it. Experience by itself is of no use unless it improves judgment. In other words, judgment is the conduit through which experience affects our actions.
But, having lots of experience does not mean one has better judgment. There is the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. Moreover, there are other influences on judgment, such as personality and intelligence. For example, impulsivity and a lack of intellectual curiosity can lead to a careless decision-making style that no amount of positive experience can fully overcome, resulting in poor judgment on important matters. (Obvious example: George W. Bush ). Conversely, being even-tempered, curious, analytical, and socially skilled can enhance judgment despite limited experience (Example: Abraham Lincoln). Thus, knowing a politician’s lifetime experience does not fully inform the voter as to the source of the politician’s judgment; one has to take all the politician’s qualities into consideration. And, of course, the best gauge of judgment is the politician’s past record of decision-making when faced with important issues, like going to war.
So, from the standpoint of voters, whose lives are impacted by the actions of a politician, what else matters but that politician’s judgment—whether or not he or she makes good decisions on important issues? And why should the voter care if that politician’s judgment comes mostly from experience or mostly from other qualities? Soldiers killed in a stupid war endorsed by a politician with lots of experience are still dead. An unprepared vice president chosen by a president with lots of experience is still unprepared to become president should that be necessary.
As the late Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, said in his “Last Lecture”, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” I am counting on both John McCain and Sarah Palin getting lots of that kind of experience this fall. Reply to this
1/22/2009 5:56 PM
Guy Burghgraef wrote:
You "Obamicans" got your choice, Obama is President. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man who will add at least $5-7 trillion to the national debt before the end of his first term. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man who will appoint judges who see what they want in the Constitution, and disregard what is actually written. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man who will raise taxes so much that it could well decimate the business community in this country. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man and his pro-abortion policies, which will kill thousands of innocent children around the world.
As a Republican, I am not proud of the spending which happened under Bush and Republicans, nor am I proud of many of the policies of the Bush administration, but I will not abandon my beloved party because they are unpopular. As a life long Republican, I believe my party’s principles are right for this country. Yes, I feel the party leaders in Washington let us down. However, I am not as hopeless as you are to embrace a man whose values are the antithesis of Republican values; remember Obama believes in bigger government, more taxes, and he believes that people cannot do anything without the help of government. We Republicans lost, we Republicans made mistakes, but we Republicans need to regroup as a community of believers in core conservative principles, correct our leaders, and move forward together. Reply to this
What's your take on the Palin connection to the Alaskan Independence Party? Are Republicans desperate enough to elect a woman who believes Alaska should secede?
Reply to this
John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin illustrates the critical role of judgment in evaluating political candidates. Until he hijacked Barack Obama’s theme of “Change,” John McCain frequently insisted that he had the experience and judgment to be a better president than Obama. Notice that he and most other politicians seem to refer to “experience” and “judgment” as two separate, if related, qualifications. Experience can be seen as the sum of one’s contact with life events, while judgment is being able to make good decisions on important issues, which does seem different.
Yet, if you take a step back and consider what experience actually does for a politician (or anyone, for that matter), you will find yourself focusing on judgment. Think about it. Experience by itself is of no use unless it improves judgment. In other words, judgment is the conduit through which experience affects our actions.
But, having lots of experience does not mean one has better judgment. There is the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience. Moreover, there are other influences on judgment, such as personality and intelligence. For example, impulsivity and a lack of intellectual curiosity can lead to a careless decision-making style that no amount of positive experience can fully overcome, resulting in poor judgment on important matters. (Obvious example: George W. Bush ). Conversely, being even-tempered, curious, analytical, and socially skilled can enhance judgment despite limited experience (Example: Abraham Lincoln). Thus, knowing a politician’s lifetime experience does not fully inform the voter as to the source of the politician’s judgment; one has to take all the politician’s qualities into consideration. And, of course, the best gauge of judgment is the politician’s past record of decision-making when faced with important issues, like going to war.
So, from the standpoint of voters, whose lives are impacted by the actions of a politician, what else matters but that politician’s judgment—whether or not he or she makes good decisions on important issues? And why should the voter care if that politician’s judgment comes mostly from experience or mostly from other qualities? Soldiers killed in a stupid war endorsed by a politician with lots of experience are still dead. An unprepared vice president chosen by a president with lots of experience is still unprepared to become president should that be necessary.
As the late Randy Pausch, professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, said in his “Last Lecture”, “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.” I am counting on both John McCain and Sarah Palin getting lots of that kind of experience this fall.
Reply to this
You "Obamicans" got your choice, Obama is President. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man who will add at least $5-7 trillion to the national debt before the end of his first term. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man who will appoint judges who see what they want in the Constitution, and disregard what is actually written. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man who will raise taxes so much that it could well decimate the business community in this country. I hope you are proud that you helped elect a man and his pro-abortion policies, which will kill thousands of innocent children around the world.
As a Republican, I am not proud of the spending which happened under Bush and Republicans, nor am I proud of many of the policies of the Bush administration, but I will not abandon my beloved party because they are unpopular. As a life long Republican, I believe my party’s principles are right for this country. Yes, I feel the party leaders in Washington let us down. However, I am not as hopeless as you are to embrace a man whose values are the antithesis of Republican values; remember Obama believes in bigger government, more taxes, and he believes that people cannot do anything without the help of government. We Republicans lost, we Republicans made mistakes, but we Republicans need to regroup as a community of believers in core conservative principles, correct our leaders, and move forward together.
Reply to this