For whatever reason, lots of conservatives would rather spend a lot of time and effort to come up with their own opinions rather than trust experienced subject-matter specialists from the government who have sifted through all the competing experts; come up with findings, conclusions, and recommendations; vetted the results ad nauseum; and balanced the competing interests.
I don't think that I can speak for "conservatives", but for me, it is a basic distrust of the individuals in the government, both democrat and republican. I would consider the situation akin to a court case where both sides have professional expert witnesses who have reached opposite conclusions that just happen to be in favor of their client. On a particular issue, both parties to trot out the experts and analysts who further their own particular agenda.
Some things are pretty much common sense to me, I don't care how many experts on rainforests that a politician put in front of me saying that cutting down thousands of acres of rainforests isn't hurting our global ecosystem, I would disagree regardless of the expert's credentials.
a sense that those government people are wired differently or stupid or corrupt...?
Again, my opinion...I would say that they are not necessarily stupid or corrupt and that they are most certainly wired the same as the rest of us, that being that they will tend to act in their own self interest. Insofar as their self interest aligns with mine, I don't have a problem with their motivation. But all to often, I believe that politicians are motivated by things that have nothing to do with what is best for the country. Because of this, when a politician says that he is giving his support to the "Son of Star Wars", I am immediately going to look to see if one of the big government contractors is looking to locate their next plant in that politicians constituency.
JXM |
