Change

How do we justify change? We apply two basic concepts, and then judge our success by our own standards.

The Superior Morality

Our moral standard is superior to yours. We are fairer, more just, kinder, more open minded, etc.

Irrelevance and Interpretation

1. The old view is antiquated, is not in step with modernity. [Example: the Bible/Constitution are historical documents, not really relevant today]

2. The words used have new and/or broader meaning than the older, narrow meaning. [Example: the federal jurisdiction to regulate interstate trade was to keep it regular, to keep it flowing smoothly. Now, regulate means to control, and that control can mean demanding that each citizen of each state buy health insurance, even if that citizen never leaves her home state).]

Objective Success and Progress

How do we know if we are going in the right direction? How do we know if our policies are obtaining the desired results? It boils down to definition of terms, what end points to measure, and perceived good.

1. What are the desired outcomes? Do you want your doctor to cure you of a disease, or do you want your doctor to be kind to you? Which is the measure of success?

2. What if you want to eliminate poverty? What if the poorest person in your country wants for nothing but has few personal assets? What if the richest person in your country lives in a hovel? Its all about the definition.

3. What if you feel good about what you have done, feel that it is the right thing to do but no improvement has occurred towards your stated external goal? What if you change the way you teach math to 6th graders, judge it favorably based on how the teachers and students feel about the program, but find that the student performance in higher grades and in the real world is the same or perhaps even inferior to the prior method? What if you raise taxes on the rich with the purpose of redistributing it to the poor only to find that the rich are still getting richer and the poor poorer? We define lack of progress as progress because had we done nothing the situation would have gotten even worse, or that we have done the right thing but not enough of it yet to matter. [This normalcy fallacy or bias is discussed in a prior posting.]