Blame the Republicans
10th March 2014
Bryan Caplan points out the elephant in the room, so to speak.
When I blame people for their problems, Democrats and liberals are prone to object at a fundamental level. One fundamental objection rests on determinism: Since everyone is determined to act precisely as he does, it is always false to say, “There were reasonable steps he could have taken to avoid his problem.” Another fundamental objection rests on utilitarianism: We should always do whatever maximizes social utility, even if that means taxing the blameless to subsidize the blameworthy.
Strangely, though, every Democrat and liberal I know routinely blames one category of people for their vicious choices: Republicans. Watch their Facebook feeds. You’ll see story after story about how Republicans – leaders and followers – shirk their basic moral duties. Republicans ignore their duty to help the less fortunate. Republicans ignore scientific evidence on global warming. Republicans lie to foment war. The point of these claims is not merely that Republican policies have bad consequences, but that Republicans are blameworthy people.
The underlying logic is rarely stated, but it snaps neatly into my framework of blame. Why are Republicans blameworthy? Because there are reasonable steps they could have taken to avoid being what they are. Instead of ignoring their duties to help the less fortunate, Republicans could show basic humanity. Instead of ignoring scientific evidence on global warming, Republicans could calmly defer to the climatological consensus. Instead of lying to foment war, Republicans could tell the truth.
Are these “reasonable” alternatives? Sure. This is clearly true for the Republican rank-and file. Since one vote has near-zero chance of noticeably changing political outcomes, political virtue is effectively free. Asking the typical Republicans to reverse course on global warming isn’t like asking him to unilaterally give up his car. It’s like asking him for a one-penny donation. Totally reasonable.
The same goes for Republican leaders. Yes, a successful Republican politician who broke ranks with his party would probably lose his job. But he could easily find alternative employment that didn’t require him to spurn the poor, scoff at climate science, and make up stories about WMDs. Stop heinous activity, keep your upper-middle class lifestyle. Quite reasonable.