Tyler Cowen thinks I’m rational
In his New York Times column, Tyler Cowen articulates my basic attitude towards evaluating presidential candidates: [T]he public this year will probably not vote itself into a much better or even much different economic policy. To be sure, the next president ? whoever he or she may be ? may well extend health care coverage ...
In his New York Times column, Tyler Cowen articulates my basic attitude towards evaluating presidential candidates: [T]he public this year will probably not vote itself into a much better or even much different economic policy. To be sure, the next president ? whoever he or she may be ? may well extend health care coverage to more Americans. But most of the country?s economic problems won?t be solved at the voting booth. It is already too late to stop an economic downturn. Health care costs will keep rising, no matter who becomes president or which party controls Congress. China is now a bigger carbon polluter than the United States, so don?t expect a tax or cap-and-trade rules to solve global warming, even if American measures are very stringent ? and they probably won?t be, because higher home heating bills are not a vote winner. A Democratic president may propose more spending on social services, but most of the federal budget is on automatic pilot. Furthermore, even if a Republican president wanted to cut back on such mandates, the bulk of them are here to stay.... [I]f you?re still worrying about how to vote, I have two pieces of advice. First, spend your time studying foreign policy, where the president has more direct power, and the choice of a candidate makes a much bigger difference. Second, stop worrying and get back to work. (emphasis added)
In his New York Times column, Tyler Cowen articulates my basic attitude towards evaluating presidential candidates:
[T]he public this year will probably not vote itself into a much better or even much different economic policy. To be sure, the next president ? whoever he or she may be ? may well extend health care coverage to more Americans. But most of the country?s economic problems won?t be solved at the voting booth. It is already too late to stop an economic downturn. Health care costs will keep rising, no matter who becomes president or which party controls Congress. China is now a bigger carbon polluter than the United States, so don?t expect a tax or cap-and-trade rules to solve global warming, even if American measures are very stringent ? and they probably won?t be, because higher home heating bills are not a vote winner. A Democratic president may propose more spending on social services, but most of the federal budget is on automatic pilot. Furthermore, even if a Republican president wanted to cut back on such mandates, the bulk of them are here to stay…. [I]f you?re still worrying about how to vote, I have two pieces of advice. First, spend your time studying foreign policy, where the president has more direct power, and the choice of a candidate makes a much bigger difference. Second, stop worrying and get back to work. (emphasis added)
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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