Politicians and Philosopher-Kings

My recent recommendation to vote for Democrats in the midterm election has touched off some interesting discussion. Some of it is in the comments section for subscribers, some of it came in angry e-mails responding to the free sample I sent to a wider list of subscribers, which includes a significant number of down-the-line conservatives. They were not happy, and that list got slightly smaller as a consequence. Such is life.

I wanted to do a brief follow-up addressing these responses, clarifying the issues in this election and also clarifying my view on how we should make these decisions. I’ll format this as a kind of FAQ, summing up each objection and responding to it.