Week in Review

This week has been interesting. I have learned a few new things, and had different viewpoints presented to me concerning things I already know. Par for the course I guess. I think the main thing I took out of this week however is that it is no surprise to me why ignorance is bliss.

Knowledge is depressing, and education only heightens the awareness of faults all around you. It is no surprise to me that the majority of educated people are progressives.

Pat Williams presented to one of my classes this week, I have heard him before, but there is always something new. He gave this explanation showing the difference between western and eastern Montana. He said, someone growing up in small town Montana, without a working stoplight, has a hard time grasping the need for governments to have so many regulations. This really makes a lot of sense, Why would you think the government needs to be present in peoples lives when it has never been present in yours, yet you turned out just fine.

The problem today is that conservatives and progressives can't understand or even recognize where the other party is coming from, labeling their opponents the ever-ominous "Other." Ahh for the 1920s. Wait, I meant the 1940s. NONONO! the 1950s! yeah, thats the one. No, I am sure there was another one... ummm, ah yes, the mid 1700's! yeah damn British...

Does no one else look at the patterns of discrimination and misunderstandings so prevalent in our history? Also, the woes about the economy are horrible these days, but do these people understand the economy is like the ocean? The tides come in and out, but its always rolling, never static.

In my Econ class today we looked at Price Index and how it relates to basket markets and more importantly GDP. This is where the ignorance is bliss thing comes in again... when looking at the "fantastic growth" found under the Bush years, it looks like the GDP in plain dollars goes up by hundreds of billions of dollars each year. Looking at a price index however it is truly sad. 3 billion in growth between 2007 and 2008. This is because of inflation (duh) and plain price increases.

So why is it no surprise to me that society gets more progressives out of educational institutions? Because when you learn how the world actually works, how many pitfalls and flaws are present in everyday life, most reasonable people want to fix it. The only entity that has enough power to create change on that large of a scale is the government. I think, while a basic explanation, it strikes at the center of why the ignorant are in true bliss.