03-09-2018, 09:48 PM
(03-09-2018, 09:38 PM)Dill Wrote: Whether the lack is asymmetrical is my question.
Can you think of any federally funded research targeted/blocked by Democrat initiatives?
Also, can you think of a policy area--housing, health, crime, climate change, farm subsidies, etc.--in which Democrats are as dismissive of evidence-based policy?
Just wondering, as I know you study policy. Maybe you have seen something up close that those of not directly involved in government have not.
Nothing is going to perfectly symmetrical. but it certainly isn't lopsided. What we have seen happen with both parties since I have been alive (so this is based on data, not on personal experience) is less reliance on the policy analysts in government, the experts in their fields, and more reliance on lobbyists and the bright shiny issues. It started earlier with Republicans, but Clinton's end of the "era of big government" played a big role in the shift for Democrats and they have caught up in this.
Both parties have opted to rely on lobbyists to feed them their figures rather than relying on wonky staffers to do research, sending their personnel to local offices to do constituent outreach so they don't have to. I'm sure this Washington brain drain, again, isn't symmetrical, but that doesn't mean either side should get any sort of credit.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
