The Party of Stupid and Pandering

Good opinion piece by economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times. He is talking about the Republican party but clarifies what he means here.

What I mean, instead, is that know-nothingism — the insistence that there are simple, brute-force, instant-gratification answers to every problem, and that there’s something effeminate and weak about anyone who suggests otherwise — has become the core of Republican policy and political strategy. The party’s de facto slogan has become: “Real men don’t think things through.”

It's also called pandering. It's just common sense to drill for more oil. Nevermind that we all know that more drilling will do nothing towards making us more energy independent. Pandering is portraying your views based on what a certain population of voters believe (even if you don't believe in these views), rather than on actually solving a problem. The Republicans are not stupid. They just like to win elections. Governing and solving problems is not of concern to them, thus, they are not very good at it.

Today, again in the New York Times, Tom Friedman points out how a good government responds to a specific problem. In this case, Denmark's response to the 1973 oil crisis.

Frankly, when you compare how America has responded to the 1973 oil shock and how Denmark has responded, we look pathetic.

In 1973 Denmark got 99% of its energy from the Middle East - today its zero. It's unlikely the USA can do exactly what Denmark did to become energy independent. But Denmark showed it can be done. And, they make money by being energy independent. They are the number one supplier of wind turbines in the world today and have an unemployment rate of 1.9%.

Unfortunately, Americans who consume 30% of the world's energy supply, think they somehow have a Sheva-given right to consume more and more at a cost of bottled water. Drill more - drill now is not an answer to our short-term or long-term energy problem. Neither is more pandering.