Robert Naiman wrote:
> Economic cost is a perfectly good reason to close Gitmo. That's money we
> could be spending on Head Start, Meals on Wheels, cancer clinics. We should
> become more conversant in the economic cost of evil policies. Did you know
> the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is expected to cost $1.5 trillion?
I'd guess that the point of the criticism is that the technocratic
cost/benefit approach can only be a _start_; it's not _enough_ and it
can very easily be a mistake to stop with it. That is, the C/B
approach is not the most politically effective way to attack or defend
a program . This approach needs to go further, to somehow link up with
the shared moral/ethical values of the vast number of people in the
country, to get people beyond narrow-minded individualism ("what's in
it for me"). Put another way, the "Gitmo is too expensive" approach
hardly provides an alternative to the emotive approach of the
GOPsters. Rather than simply arguing to convince lobbyists, they try
to build up a political base outside the beltway.
On a different issue, if I remember correctly Hilary Clinton's IT
TAKES A VILLAGE uses a classic technocratic approach to justify
spending on public schools as an investment in human capital. It might
be more effective politically to instead says stuff like "just as our
parents paid for our public schooling, we should pay for that of our
children and grandchildren." That is, politicians can actually bring
people together (toward acting more like communities) rather than
going along with the prevalent narrow-minded individualism. (Of
course, that likely won't serve their campaign contributors'
interests.)
Or, can we justify paying social security benefits to retired folks
using cost/benefit analysis? they use all sorts of expensive medical
resources and what are the benefits? what are they doing for me, after
all? if there are any left, we should get some ice floes ready.
--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your
own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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