Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.
I’ll leave to you Bereans to ponder why this may be applicable to today’s political economy. There are no bonus prizes (since this should be obvious), but you can provide your thoughts in the comments.. Keep them as nice as you can, even though you’ll be speaking the truth in love about incompetence!
EDIT Update: I will however, award bonus points for the first person to correctly identify what scientific principle is illustrated in this quote. Fellow Berean bloggers are also eligible. What are the bonus points worth? Hard to say, but surely invaluable.
Nathan D.
November 20, 2013
Some things like Benghazi are incompetene (never mind criminally incompetent). But on some things I don’t think it is incompetence at all. I think it is purposeful. Example: I think they made it so Obamacare collapses, etc. so in 2016 Hillary can run on single-payer, which was their original goal. I hardly think the true libs have ever given up on it.
Anonymous
November 20, 2013
The principle is Occam’s Razor. What do I win?
Jeff Haymond
November 20, 2013
Mr. Anonymous has indeed ID’d the correct principle. Of course, if he/she had not been anonymous, they would have had worldwide fame and fortune. However, now they’ll have to be satisfied with a title of “honorary Berean”!!
Well done!
Mitchell Adams
November 24, 2013
I should’ve read this earlier. I’ve watched enough Big Bang Theory to know this answer. Timing is everything
Rachel Palmer
November 30, 2013
I think this saying holds true in several areas of the government. I think Obama himself truly thought he was doing the American people a favor with the healthcare reform. I would like to believe his intentions were good.
Ben Saxe
December 1, 2013
It is hard to think that the leaders were so incompetent or malicious. I have a hard time pin pointing the motive of a man because only God knows the heart, but smart individuals can act out of selfish intent as well.
Jonathan Gummel
December 9, 2013
I agree with Ben. It is sometimes difficult to pin poor decisions on malice vs incompetence. I do believe that elected officials should be well educated in economic issues, and have experience working in the private-sector (to help remove incompetence from their decisions).
Nick Vaccarella
December 10, 2013
Dr. Smith made a good point in politics class. He said that he believes that many of the politicians are incredibly sincere and intent upon doing good, but they lack the competence and education to back up their decisions. Furthermore, in their own self-seeking pursuit, advisors fail to warn when necessary.
The fundamental truth remains: Good intentions do NOT mean good consequences.
Anonymous
December 10, 2013
This leads right into how we should vote as knowledgeable voters…
I do not believe that we should should simply choose a candidate because we agree with them morally, but as an elected official it is vital that they are (also?) qualified for the job that they are campaigning for.