I was inspired to write a couple blogs posts about Alex Tabarrok's review of Joseph Heath's book. Well now, Joseph Heath has responded to the review and it's pretty interesting.
Tabarrok asked, "Is Capitalism Making Us Stupid?" I think the answer is a resounding "Yes!" But then after I read Joseph Heath's response, I'm thinking the question should actually be "Will Our Irrationality Destroy Democracy?" And I think the answer is a resounding "Yes!"
I should probably get the book and read the whole thing. But this little back and forth has been quite interesting and stimulating. I do think our politics has devolved into a pretty infantile state, and many of us are desperately clinging to a deep irrationality. The GOP is deeply in the grip of denial, a willful stupidity, a robust and unapologetic irrationality. And since we have a pretty divided country this means that our democracy has become a stilted, stuck and ugly thing.
Our only hope out of this is an enlightened reason. But reason doesn't really help much when you are arguing with a crazy person. We are locked in a closet with a bunch of crazies! Welcome to your America!