As I was lying in bed last night, I codified a few thoughts that have been running through my head. The primary idea being that the stated goals of many progressive policies, when first introduced, are not bad.
In fact the basis of the progressive movement is about finding issues with the way our society is run and attempting to address them. This is fundamentally a good thing. The healthy contest between conservation and progress is how society is suppose to operate.
The problem is that the current progressive movement, drunk on success, has cut the brake lines and subscribed to the mantra that if a little is good, ALL OF IT, must be better. The problem is that excess is never the right answer.
It’s trivial to go through examples - caution at the beginning of the pandemic seemed warranted. But to go from - let’s protect the elderly (a good idea) - to zero covid was a journey of excess which caused more damage than the pandemic itself. Addressing issues of racism as they emerge is good, whether it be unfair bail practices, over policing, over sentencing, out of control police, is good. But to jump from that to “all inequality is caused by racism” is excess. And to imagine that since there has been inequality in bail/sentencing practices in the past implies we should simply let people go if they belong to a group which has had unfair practices in the past is the worst kind of excess. More importantly, it’s the kind of excess which perpetuates other issues affecting those communities such as higher homicide and violent crime rates in their communities.
The proper response isn’t “let them go” it’s “sentence them in line with everyone else”. This approach is all gas pedal, no brakes. A car doesn’t work properly that way. Even, maybe especially, race cars - the definition of excess when it come to cars - use their brakes regularly to try to ensure a safe race, but also to go FASTER than they could if they were all gas.
But it is important not to throw the baby out with the bathwater either - that way is the other side of excess. It is clear that current bail and sentencing reform policies are having disastrous consequences on our urban centers. The answer though isn’t to come back and clamp down even more draconian sentencing. Just like “defund the police” is an absurd notion with obvious outcomes, ignoring real issues with policing and blanket supporting all police is similarly foolish.
The reality is that not all proposals ARE good. Many come from good places initially. But success breeds a need for further success to an activist class looking for constant funding to keep their activities going. Saying “hey, we achieved what we set out for, we are stepping back our efforts” puts people out of work and disrupts their lives. Much like the desire for clicks drives absurd news cycles, the desire to gather funding and keep being paid drives a need to ratchet up activism to continue to justify receiving funds.
Effectively, much of the world is suffering now from a variety of perverse incentives. Hospitals, News, Pharma, Politicians, Activism, there really are too many dollars out there creating incentives orthogonal to the stated purposes of the enterprises they are affecting.
Moderation is an unpopular idea at all times, consider engaging in more moderation and less excess, regardless of where the excess lands.