They See Not the Impact of the Laws that They Wrought

In his post about

America's conception of liberty and the civic structure that supports it to broad issues of the day

Justin points to

State legislators who apparently have no concept of the effects of the legislation that they pass at the behest of self-interested and ideological constituencies

Indeed, they do not. Perhaps the biggest cause of this blindness is misplaced compassion and a misdirected desire to do good. Some legislators honestly believe that, by imposing tax and regulatory burdens, they are "balancing the scales of societal injustice".

They don't see the connection between their legislative "achievements" and the current high unemployment engendered to a great extent by the bad business climate of the state or the connection between a bad business climate and tax revenue that's not where it might be. When someone - for example, Jack Welch - points this out, it registers in their ears as a rich person complaining, not as simple statement of fact and a major red flag about the economic conditions that they have created.

In a remark yesterday, Governor Patrick makes it clear that shares this well-intentioned but dangerous blindness.

Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick says he will continue to worry about people i[f] he wins on Election Day while Republican rival Charles Baker will only be concerned about "abstract policies" if he prevails.

Doesn't that make the Governor sound nice and compassionate? The problem is that the policies he references are not that abstract but, in fact, would have a very real impact on people's lives. Not to mention that the governor has policies, too,

Governor Deval Patrick said ... that he will sign more than $1 billion in tax increases, ending a months-long standoff with the Legislature ...

but somehow, they don't impact any people (???).

There's no reasoning with such hopelessly befuddled and disconnected logic, whether next door or on Smith Hill. The only course is to simply vote it out of office.