Among competing hypotheses, the one with the fewest assumptions should be selected.
— Occam’s Razor [Wikipedia]
Cuts to anti-poverty programs. Cuts to programs that ensure children are fed. Cuts to agencies that preserve civil rights. Cuts to health care for 24 million Americans. Cuts to programs that work for environmental justice. Cuts to federal housing programs. And a new tax policy that would benefit the most wealthy Americans. (Some links: NY Times, Washington Post, CNN, Tax Policy Institute)
And in all cases, the most convoluted explanations of why.
I’ve seen people try to explain how these actions aren’t simply Draconian. I’ve seen people try to explain this away as if this was somehow a traditional Republican v. Democratic view of government.
It’s not.
And this is where Occam’s Razor is important. Occam’s Razor, at it’s root, is simply this: When faced with many explanations for a situation, the simplest one is the best explanation.
And that leads us to this:
Those in power in the American government simply do not care about the people these policies will hurt.
Let me say that again:
Occam’s Razor demands that we understand this simple fact: President Trump and his Republican allies do not care about the people his policies hurt.
This isn’t about competing views of government. This isn’t the traditional Republican vs. Democratic views of how we view our country. This is kleptocracy. This is “I got mine” governance. This is about people who view wealth as moral justification for crimes against their fellow Americans.
Those of us who want to ensure schools provide free breakfasts and lunches to the kids who need them… those of us who believe that we cannot step backward in our fight for a more just world have to understand this.
They don’t care what happens to those they hurt. This means they do not care about the people they hurt.
And we have to hold them accountable for that.
In some cases, I’d prefer they didn’t care because I think they want to punish some innocent groups and indifference would hurt less.
charity empathy humanitarianism decency regard belief – when a nation loses its sense of true north, its future shifts in direction away from these. A moral compass leads us to do what’s right. We need to hold that dear.
As Abigail Adams wrote to her husband May 25, 1784 “We are not judges for ourselves until circumstances call us to act.”
Chris, unfortunately you are correct. It’s they don’t care,, are incredibly stupid, or incredibly evil. Take your pick !
In education, we are confronted with all inequalities: socio-economic, gender, and ethnic to name a few. We do not choose who we have in our classrooms, our doors are open to all. This is the heart of the American dream, that we accept all students regardless of background and do our best to give them a quality education. These politicians and political appointees rarely see the world from an educator’s eyes, rather they see it through the bottom of a Tiffany crystal tumbler filled with aged scotch. They are so out of touch with the heartbeat and pulse of the American people that they can only see who is lining their pockets motivated by self-interests. Most (not all) of these appointees, have never felt the grips of poverty, been discriminated by gender inequality, or been barred from pursuing interests due to their ethnic background; the real tragedy here is the majority of Americans live with these struggles on a daily basis.
In our schools, we embed in our hidden curriculum the superiority of American Democracy, and stand up for the pledge every morning “one nation under one god.” This God that Republicans are speaking of is Christian based, and this one nation is divided. I was born and raised Christian and as much as Republicans claim to be of a Christian faith, their principles beg to differ, and they do not want to clothe the naked or help the weak. This Democracy that they claim to be superior is just Plutocracy in sheep’s clothes, and as long as we continue down this path, we are slowly unraveling all of the social advances that have taken us over hundreds of years to accomplish.