Fast Track Stupidity
Ten years from now, I will almost certainly be dead.
But, if I were to live that long, I would be constantly challenged with the question, “Why did you not warn us about what was surely already apparent – that the globe was heating at an ever-increasing rate, and that – unless we changed our behaviours very drastically – it would rapidly become uninhabitable.”
I would have no satisfactory answer to that question, other than to plead that “I tried. I argued till I was blue in the face, but people wouldn’t listen. They preferred to follow the advice of those who assured them that there was nothing to worry about.”
“They preferred that advice because it offered them the easy way out. And by the time they realised that they had been misled, it was too late.”
“So, they followed the advice of those who said that we could safely put in place special dispensations that would allow us to do what we liked – that we could “fast-track” to a trouble-free future. All that we needed to do was to find three idiots who would bear the responsibility of ignoring the scientific evidence.”
“That trio would take responsibility for decisions that flew in the face of the best scientific evidence we could assemble. The only qualities they needed were unshakeable ignorance, contempt for public opinion and confidence in their own judgment.”
“Our only sin was being too gullible and allowing them to do it.”
1 Comment
Sir Geoffrey Palmer submitted on the Treaty Principles Bill that the process of law making is important, that it not be inverted. Fast track is part of increasing executive control of parliament, which will result in bad laws, mistakes and misdirected policies. Evidence based policy making means taking evidence across a broad front, being skeptical of vested interests and prepared to question our cherished orthodoxy.