Newman, that’s a fair point. The way this scenario arose was that someone proposed a specific policy—shops where otherwise banned items could be sold—and I remarked that some poor, honest, not overwhelmingly educated mother would buy Dr. Snakeoil’s Sulfuric Acid Drink for her arthritis and die and leave her five orphaned children to weep on national television. I meant it as a remark about the real-world political unfeasibility. However, this evidently struck most people as a Green argument, and I was shortly well on my way to acquiring a reputation as a Green, hence this little position paper.
It would indeed be disingenuous to make a general habit of discussing only the downsides of Blue policy. But when that specific issue does arise, one would like to be able to discuss such a straightforward factual prediction without being labeled a Green. When specific Green policies are proposed, I am just as frank (and vivid) about the downsides, hence I get labeled Blue.
Newman, that’s a fair point. The way this scenario arose was that someone proposed a specific policy—shops where otherwise banned items could be sold—and I remarked that some poor, honest, not overwhelmingly educated mother would buy Dr. Snakeoil’s Sulfuric Acid Drink for her arthritis and die and leave her five orphaned children to weep on national television. I meant it as a remark about the real-world political unfeasibility. However, this evidently struck most people as a Green argument, and I was shortly well on my way to acquiring a reputation as a Green, hence this little position paper.
It would indeed be disingenuous to make a general habit of discussing only the downsides of Blue policy. But when that specific issue does arise, one would like to be able to discuss such a straightforward factual prediction without being labeled a Green. When specific Green policies are proposed, I am just as frank (and vivid) about the downsides, hence I get labeled Blue.