This true, but sad as it may sound, right now that is very much a winning argument. The other option is the end of our little experiment in relative democracy.
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True, but an awful thing is that “winning argument” may not be winning. Given how much Republicans are willing to cheat, the dems need someone exciting to a lot of voters, not a doddering, sexually abusive Republican-lite throwback who has nothing more to offer than “At least I’m not Trump.”
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Just in case the implications aren’t obvious:
-a coronavirus vaccine is a global benefit, not a competitive advantage. Herd immunity with high vaccination rates can be overcome in a mobile, global society if only one country of a few countries have the vaccine. In other words, if China doesn’t have a vaccine, it may not matter if the US has a vaccine, as our herd immunity could be overrun by only a few hundred asymptomatic carriers.
-of course, the better China (or Nigeria, or Australia, or Argentina) is prepared for a pandemic, the less likely it is to be even spread to North America or Europe. And vice versa.
-this idiot must not realize that China is months ahead of the US (much less Arkansas) in developing a vaccine. His state is much more likely to end up begging for a vaccine from China than the other way around. I’m not pulling this out of my ass, either. Orders for vaccine development products were made from the China equivalent of the CDC in mid-January.
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…Cotton opined. “In the middle of a pandemic, what’s the most valuable intellectual property in the world?
Wow. He sees the primary value of vaccine in economic scarcity terms? That is everything wrong with the GOP mammonites right there.
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They want a late-night basic-cable vaccine that they can sell with a 1-800 number
TRUMP VACCINES every bottle signed by The Donald with a Sharpie
It’s not even a joke
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Apparently Biden was on record in January denouncing Trump’s useless coronavirus response
He might even have written that column himself, like a grownup
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“They don’t need to learn quantum computing and artifical intelligence from America.”
knowledge stops at the border almost exactly as much as a virus does.
actually, i’m trying to imagine that maybe somewhere out in the arkansas desert* there is this oracle called “america” ( maybe the grave of old vespucci himself, or a cave where he and ponce de león sit a front the fountain of youth - six us customary measured feet apart - hermit like, expounding ) from which all knowledge flows.
we send all our students there to wrest knowledge from the eternal flow - for things like bicycles, quantum computing, vaccines, and oat milk - but only students who’s parents were born in the usa sometime on or before january third 1959. ( sorry, hawaii. you’re too pacific for us. )
ugh. our best and brightess seem to be limited by a guy who thinks we should all be main lining bleach. hopefully the world won’t help us build the wall and shut us all out from modernity.
(* no desert in arkansas you say? well keep electing republicans and we’ll see how far this whole global warming thing goes. )
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desert may have more to do with prevailing winds and distance from the ocean than termperature
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And how could I forget him?
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Wow, that guy has an even darker view of Billionaires than I do.
- Rich people will give a portion of excess wealth money to support society, but only if we don’t make them
- Raising taxes causes ultra-wealthy bigots to become even more antisemitic than they already are
- The Ford Foundation is the closest thing you goddamn hippies will ever get to Universal Health Care
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Lawrence Henry Summers (born November 30, 1954) is an American economist, former Vice President of Development Economics and Chief Economist of the World Bank (1991–93),[1][2][3] senior U.S. Treasury Department official throughout President Clinton’s administration (ultimately Treasury Secretary, 1999–2001),[2][3][4] and former director of the National Economic Council for President Obama (2009–2010).[2][3] He is a former president of Harvard University (2001–2006),[3][5] where he is currently (as of March, 2017) a professor and director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.[3][6][7]
And he also has “interesting” views on the abilities of women.
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indeed. i was contrasting an absurd suggestion ( restricting knowledge by nationality ) with other absurdities.
fwiw: climate change will increase desertification precisely for the reasons you mention. in the midwest though the expectation is more heat and lots of rain
Midwest. Extreme heat, heavy downpours and flooding will affect infrastructure, health, agriculture, forestry, transportation, air and water quality, and more.
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No argument, that is where we are. A choice between a small step back from the edge vs going full-on Thelma and Louise. No, he’s not exciting, but the thought of 4 more years of where we are obviously going should be enough to frighten people to vote. It’s a terrible motivation, but that is terrible in the Old Testament sense.
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While there are some epically dumb pols; this hasn’t been my experience at either the local or national level.
They may play like they’re just regular folks to the masses - and some really are epically dumb - but you generally have to be pretty smart to reach that level of achievement,
72% of Congress has post graduate degrees.
And they’re 11 times more likely from Republicans and 31 times more likely from Democrats to be from elite universities.
Jonathan Wai Ph.D.
Who’s Smarter? Republicans and Democrats in Congress
U.S. Senators and House members are smarter than you think.
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That would seem to make sense, but an “elite degree” is more often a sign of familial cultural and social capital than of higher inherent brain power than that of most working-class people who lack such capital.
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This is true for every field; not just pols. But that doesn’t make pols especially less likely to be bright.
General public - 13% have grad degrees.
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I wonder what percentage of those are MBAs or JDs (i think the latter is the legal equivalent of an MBA?). I don’t generally take either of those as signs of intelligence as much as an effort to get rich, but maybe that’s my own bias.
I’m not trying to argue with you. And I’m not trying to do some kind of middle-ground bothsiderism. But I do think there is a more accurate middle ground between “Most politicians aren’t very smart” and as your post just said, “U.S. Senators and House members are smarter than you think,” which I’m basically hearing as, “Smarter than most people.”
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JD’s in DC? A boatload. 1 in 12 people.
OTOH - a JD isn’t unhelpful for folks who draft legislation. I’m not saying there’s a surfeit of geniuses- but they ain’t dumb.
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Ben “Pyramids” Carson is a neurosurgeon. There’s a kind of dumb you can have with very advanced educational “attainment”, and that does seem both real and pervasive.
But you also remind us of the most important dictum of our age: “Never excuse as stupidity that which has the effect of malice.”
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