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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cogito who wrote (62551)	4/29/2008 9:23:29 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 544328

I don't see that as the industry protecting itself. I see that as the industry, if that's what you want to call it, doing what it is supposed to do. I tried to deal with that by saying it wasn't mercenary. Sure, they're doing what they're supposed to or what they think they're supposed to. They believe in what they're doing. But that doesn't mean that inbreeding and self interest hasn't distorted their perception of their mission. It's the same as the point I've made about unions. Over time the interests of their membership and the interests of their industry get confused. Think about surgeons. After a while they tend to come to think that a successful surgery is the objective, not the best outcome for the patient. It's human nature. As long as the environmental advocacy industry is pulling in contributions by going after whatever potential pollution is on the horizon, it's doing its job, in a way, but not necessarily acting in the best interests of its membership. If they are successful in eliminating the development of nuclear power plants, for example, and it turns out that we run out of power an end up having to resort to some less clean fuel, have they served their membership well? How many university departments of women's studies does society really need?