Politician’s Logic

Long before there was the West Wing, there was the BBC series, Yes, Minister. Set in a fictional, yet all too real sounding, Department of Administrative Affairs, the show chronicles the intercourse between career of Jim Hacker MP, played by Paul Eddington and his Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey Appleby, played by Nigel Hawthorne.

In this most memorable scene, Appleby is seeking some outside counsel. This would be hysterically funny, if it were not also absolutely true. Politicians on both sides of the aisle fall victim to this because they allow their anxiety and the anxiety of those around them to overcome their rationality. 

I witnessed this first hand last Saturday at the previously blogged about candidate forum. Just about every candidate used this illogic for some issue they felt pressing. For one it was education funding, for another, gas taxes, for a third, indigent care.

“Something must be done. This is something. Therefore, we must do it!