Weasel Words

I was shocked to hear that Rush Limbaugh is hoping for the failure of our current administration. Oh, I understand that he has weaseled out 'clarified' that to mean that he is only hoping for the failure of the policies, not the administration or the American people themselves.

Now, I normally dismiss Rush as a bombastic self-indulgent blowhard, but what worries me is that others feel what he spoke.

It is normal to think that the current policy makers are heading in the wrong direction, or to worry that their prescriptions won't solve the problems we face, or that they may solve the problems on some levels but create new ones for us to deal with down the road. Since it does appear that everything has a cost, and that cost can sometimes be difficult to estimate accurately, we can often be left wondering “What is the real cost of this policy, and how hard will it be to bear?”

And so we debate policy. We attempt to look for previous situations and previous actions and draw correlations and make our arguments and hope that if we think a policy is correlated to a good outcome that we've looked at the correct variables and not missed a hidden cost and that it will work again this time.

And we disagree.

But it seems to me that there is a gulf between thinking that the chosen policy is not the best of all advanced policies and actively hoping that the enacted policy will fail.

If the majority think that a particular policy is the best, then even if I disagree I hope it succeeds. Why would I want my fellows or our country to suffer a setback? How can any true American stand up and (loudly!) proclaim they hope for failure?

I suspect that Mr Limbaugh hopes the policies fail for the simple reason that he is afraid they will succeed. For Rush, their success is not in his self-interest.

If we apply the ideas of (rational) rat theory to Mr Limbaugh's actions, we can see exactly why he said what he said. Rush is in the 5% of America that will be asked to bear a slightly higher cost going forward to aid the country's economic recovery. The remaining 95% will likely be beneficiaries of the Obama administration's policies, and for most of us (since we're in the latter group) we hope it works as well as or better than presented. We may have our doubts, but that doesn't change our hope.

But not ol' Rush. He's an accomplished free-rider, and doesn't want it to end or even to slow. If he can convince enough others, perhaps his ride will continue, even though it will likely cost them. What does he care? Rush Limbaugh is looking out for Rush Limbaugh. Not America. Not the American People. Not even the Republican Party.

My hope is that he convinces no-one outside his 5%, but my depression stems from the fear that he will, that others, even though it won't be in their self-interest, will be captivated into thinking they should hope for failure. At least we can understand Rush's actions. It's much harder to understand those who mis-interpret their own interests, and pursue courses that benefit others but hurt themselves while thinking they are aiding their future.

If he convinces even one person to act against their rational self interest, Rush is a weasel.

But, Mr. Limbaugh's not just any weasel.

He's a Rat Weasel.

That's actually funny.