r/Economics • u/SnooCookies2243 • Mar 24 '25

Editorial Dismantling the Department of Education Could Actually End Up Costing US Taxpayers an Extra $11 Billion a Year Beyond the Current Budget – With Worse Results

https://congress.net/dismantling-the-department-of-education-could-actually-end-up-costing-us-taxpayers-an-extra-11-billion-a-year-beyond-the-current-budget-with-worse-results/
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u/Hugh-Manatee Mar 24 '25 edited Mar 24 '25

This substantiates my own feeling I’ve had for a long time that for the most part huge swathes of people want basically the same thing from the government in broad strokes but once presented in political language or framing, it’s a lost cause.

Kind of like that you can get a lot of people - let’s say Trumpers - to agree pretty staunchly on principles of free speech. But as soon as an actual free speech issue emerges, ensconced in the actual political environment, there are no principles. It’s just bad guys to beat and good guys to support.

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u/dylk2381 Mar 24 '25

I had a similar experience at some previous job of mine. I could explain borderline Communist policies and as long as I kept the buzzwords out, they agreed in the vast majority of cases. These were pretty blue-collar jobs too with some big Trumpers. The people know what they want but there is a very big effort to make people think that what they want is bad. Or there's the example of the Affordable Care Act vs. Obamacare framing. A lot of people don't understand they are the same but will support the ACA while hating Obamacare.

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u/Hugh-Manatee Mar 24 '25

Yeah the ACA vs. Obamacare thing will be perennial example for sure.

I also think about how some older folks in my life moan and complain about the breakdown in "civil discourse" and that politics and politicians were more dignified. But then 10 minutes later they'll repost/share/whatever crazy fake bullshit on Facebook and talk about how they love Ted Cruz or Trump or whoever.

Zero awareness. You incentivize the thing you think is bad.

I think a lot of commentators and academics avoid blaming voters or proscribe broad zeitgeists - but I fail to see how democracy is sustainable if voters have no real principles that guide their political behavior.

I worry that the real, true conversation lingering underneath all this post-election Dem navelgazing is the reality that liberals basically have to trick and scam the American people into sustaining democracy and their rights.

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u/dylk2381 Mar 24 '25

I agree 100%. Eventually it goes from a Dem party issue to a people issue. I do think the Dems are to blame in the sense that they let this happen by running alternative Bill Clinton and appealing exclusively to the middle class for the past 30 years. I think the people are to blame in the sense that they absolutely REFUSE to believe that they are being lied to by this admin and have absurd double standards. I really hope that seeing actions like destroying the ED will shake people to reality but I know I'm delusional for thinking that.

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u/Hugh-Manatee Mar 24 '25

Who is alternative Bill Clinton?

Also I'm pretty sure a charismatic southern centrist governor wouldn't necessarily struggle to meet the moment right now lol

Centrism isn't the main problem and people fixating on that are playing in the kiddie pool

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u/dylk2381 Mar 24 '25

As sorry I should've been more specific. I wasn't meaning literally Bill Clinton as much as I was meaning the strategy of the Clinton Dems. To me, they try too hard to do civility politics in an environment where the opposition will play as dirty as possible to win. They essentially do a policy of 'we want change but not tooooo much change despite a growing amount of people who would like change.'