Political False Logic

I find logic very interesting.  We have all had the test questions like:  A football is a ball, and a baseball is not a football, so a baseball is not a ball.  This is an example of false logic. 

Political false logic is subtler.  Political logic usually uses a false premise.  If we don’t question that false premise, the logic appears sound.

I stopped at a local bar for beer and popcorn a few months back.  I sat next to a slight acquaintance at the bar.  We started a conversation.  The conversation eventually got around to politics.  This individual seemed intelligent and relatively well informed. 

The conversation was interesting and civilized until it got around to the recall of Governor Walker.  Logic and facts ceased as soon as I said I was opposed to the recall.  He was now loud, and interrupted anything I tried to say.  He had now determined that I was against educating children and helping the poor.  He continued to shout this at me. 

The Walker recall had been initiated by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, which is better know as WEAC.  WEAC is the public sector teachers union in Wisconsin.  Governor Walker proposed changes that took power away from the union.

This individual had associations with and sympathy for teachers.  He made the assumption WEAC was working in the best interests of teachers.  He then made the questionable assumption that WEAC was working in the best interests of educating the children. 

Since I supported Governor Walker, he made the leap to saying I was against educating children and helping the poor.  Even with the false premise, I am not sure how he made the leap to saying I was against helping the poor, but that is political logic. 

The fact of the matter is that I am very much in favor of educating our children and helping the poor.  I am opposed to the failed federal policies in both areas over the past decades. 

Look at what has happened to our schools.  My personal gripe is the lack of teaching civics and accurate American history.  There has been a steady decline in education by many standards since the sixties as the federal government has become more involved, and as public sector unions have become more powerful and political.  Neither are necessarily bad or the cause of the decline, but we need to give the control of our schools back to the states and the people. 

Helping the poor is the same situation.  What the federal government is doing is not working.  Look at urban areas like Detroit.  We have to do something different. 

Einstein’s definition of insanity is, “Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  We have to do something different.  Just throwing more federal money at a problem is not a solution.  Giving power back to the states and the people worked in the past.  Let’s reduce the size and interference of the federal government.