“I would rather be governed by the first 2,000 people in the telephone directory than by the Harvard University faculty,” William Buckley famously said.
It looks as if his worst fear is being realized. Or by Congress or by many of our State legislators and Governors—especially in Blue States and inner cities. Is Idaho a “Blue State” yet?
When will the American people stop listening to the so-called experts and start using their own common sense like we used to do? So many smart people seem to think that because they have spent a lifetime learning how to be an expert in one field of endeavor, they know everything about everything. In my experience having met many great scientists, the great ones know what they don’t know. They know the limitations of their disciplines.
In today’s Wall Street Journal there is a list of 17 Nobel Prize winning economists who last November endorsed Joe Biden’s BUILD BACK BETTER PLAN. https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-progressives-fail-inflation-edition-janet-yellen-economics-white-house-biden-rising-prices-11654121580?mod=opinion_lead_pos1 Mr. Biden referred to the list many times. In the body of the endorsement, we read: “the agenda invests in long term economic capacity and will enhance the ability of more Americans to participate productively….it will ease longer-term inflationary pressures”. I can tell you that if Milton Freidman were alive, he would not have been on that list. Nor were great economists living today like Art Laffer, Thomas Sowell, or Andrew Mulligan.
Before the last Presidential election, a list of 780 retired generals and former national security leaders spoke out against Mr. Trump and endorsed Mr. Biden. https://news.yahoo.com/why-780-retired-generals-and-former-national-security-leaders-spoke-out-against-trump-204428356.html On that list were many who planed our campaign in Afghanistan. I am sure more than a few supported the subsequent chaotic retreat from Afghanistan. Many are responsible for our current state of military unpreparedness. Many have supported “woke” indoctrination programs throughout our military including our service academies jeopardizing training and deployment schedules
A list of 17,000 scientists signed a petition supporting “Science” and Dr. Fauci. Apparently, the science was “settled”.
A list of 930,000 doctors, nurses’ public health specialists signed The Barrington Declaration in 2020 offering mitigation and lockdown strategies very different than those recommended by The World Health Organization (WHO), The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and Dr. Fauci. Settled science? Just maybe each individual and each family needs to assess the data and see how it pertains to their unique situation. Maybe the average person understands that data and risk are very different. Isn’t the point of education supposed to be that because of our training, we develop our own processes for making informed decisions about ourselves? Experts know nothing about individual risk. When they apply their own aversion to risk to other people they are extrapolating —estimating beyond the observation. Scientists try to stick to interpolating—estimating between two known points.
JR Simplot made an observation during one of his last speeches at a graduation ceremony at The College of Idaho. After being introduced by the President of the college he looked out over the crowd of graduates, students and their families and said: “Either you guys are a lot smarter than we used to be or there are just too many “G. D.” Cum Laude’s here today.” Spoken by a billionaire who left school in Burley Idaho to support his family after the eighth grade. The students, graduates, and families gave him a standing ovation. The faculty and administration remained in their seats. Everybody knew what J. R. was talking about. Just because you are an expert doesn’t mean you have learned from your experiences and acquired wisdom and discernment. JR knew “what he knew, and he knew what he didn’t know and part of what he knew was what he didn’t know”. Experience and wisdom are more likely to be found and valued in the workplace, on the farm or in the home and family, than in the halls of academia.
We need more leaders in business, education and government who have the common sense of JR Simplot. And maybe along with that the discipline to keep your eye on the ball and never forget what is important and what your goals are.
Too many “GD” Cum Loude’s (experts) in our schools, businesses, government, and military. Time for some everyday common sense.
