“Just
because an organization has the power to do something doesn’t mean it should” – Seth
Godin
Seth is
talking about power, policy and public
perception. Consider these overreaches in the pursuit of more money:
- Car
dealers working to stop Tesla - The
NFL refusing to pay sales tax - Amazon
trading customer satisfaction for concessions - Power
utilities working to stop net metering by solar panel homeowners - Telecom
companies working behind the scenes to get the FCC to abandon
net
neutrality
Or,
consider Boko Haram stealing female students:
Or, consider Republicans climbing Mount Benghazi (again):
Or, consider the Supreme Court’s focus on prayer at town meetings:
A majority of voters now support reforming the Supreme Court. According to a new survey by the polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, wide majorities disagree with the Court’s recent string of 5-4 party-line rulings:
- The landmark Citizens United ruling is opposed by a whopping 80-18 margin.
- The more recent McCutcheon decision, which lifted caps on total campaign spending, was said by a 51% to be likely to create more corruption, while 8% suggested it would lead to less.
- By a 60-36 spread, those surveyed said that Supreme Court justices were more likely to be carrying out a personal or political agenda than working to render a fair and impartial judgment, an opinion that cut across party lines.
Overall approval of the Supreme Court has been falling ever since its 5-4 Bush v. Gore decision handed the presidency to George W. Bush in 2000, according to a different survey by Gallup.
Or, consider the continuing denial of climate change:
Or, consider the VA scandal in Phoenix and how badly we have treated returning Vets:
The VA is underfunded and suffers from most of the problems associated with being a fairly low priority Federal bureaucracy. What reportedly happened in the Phoenix VA may or may not be an anomaly. The care at VA centers seems to be good, but once soldiers get home and are out of the service, they are pretty much written off.
Power, Policy and Perception. How often do we get to be wrong about them?
