Lazy politics hurt candidates, commenters
Lazy politics pervade.
People see and hear them every day, without realizing what is happening.
To start getting an idea of what I’m talking about, it is best to use examples.
A Republican congressional candidate talks on the news about how social security needs to be “reformed,” although he may actually believe it should be eliminated outright.
Let me give you another example: A commenter on the website of a college newspaper questions Rand Paul’s abhorrence of racism because Paul believes that private property owners should have the ability to discriminate on their own property. Immediately after, said commenter changes the subject instead of arguing why he believes it impossible to abhor racism yet be a proponent of allowing private property owners to discriminate.
So, how are the politics of the lazy demonstrated in the first example? Think about what would most likely happen if our candidate outright called for the elimination of this entitlement program.
Despite the fact that social security fits the definition of a ponzi scheme, and there is no guarantee of people getting their forced “contribution” back (see Flemming vs. Nestor), the most likely reaction would be a pure emotionally driven claim that our candidate is trying to screw the elderly.
Rather than try to overcome the emotions of potential voters and argue how social security cannot legitimately be fixed, our candidate finds it easier to just toss out the fluff line that it needs to be “reformed.” Politics of the lazy.
The second example shows politics of the lazy in a slightly different form. In this case, the commenter either does not want to try backing up his premise, or cannot bear the emotional trauma of admitting he, in fact, cannot back it up. Rather, he relies on the reader to just agree with his premise.
Essentially, political laziness happens because an ignorant public reacts in an emotional manner.
In turn, politicians do not want to take the time to actually educate the public based on principal. Instead, they forgo principal to score the easy political points.
