10-14-2011, 06:25 PM
rjmacs wrote:
Okay. My notion of what is rational is less strictly tied to formal logic and more broadly extends from notions of reasonableness. That is, the capacity to make sense of something when viewed in its totality, rather than merely when evaluated in discrete parts.
No matter the case, reality is distorted from both the Democratic and Republican positions as regards Medicare. So, we can quibble about my choice of the word 'rational' in my initial post, but that obscures the lack of reasonable coherence to be found in the positions and actions of either side, which was really the core of my point.
What you said best applies to both sides in practice: "Don't try to make sense of it. It will just make your head hurt." I don't CARE whether the Democrats make a more cogent argument on paper, if they then never follow through on it. To me, that's just as unreasonable as never making sense in the first place. It might even be more irrational. It's certainly just as useless.
Sometimes the philosophy major in me probably gets overly niggley about certain things - like what is rational. When you move beyond logic (which really is just bunch of rules about assessing when thinking is valid and sound) then values enter into the picture and then what becomes rational or irrational depends on what value judgments you make. IOW, what is considered rational becomes much more relative to your value system and less about objectively following rules of logic.
If the Democrats cannot overcome issues like the Senate filibuster to raise taxes enough to get sufficient funding for Medicare, then what is the reasonable thing for Democrats to do?