Break Your Ideological Rigidity

"People need to break out of their ideological rigidity."
--Barack Obama, 02/09/2009

In other words:

I'm a socialist. Do you know why? Because all the other countries are socialists. I mean, come on America, get with the program! France is socialist, Sweden is socialist, Cuba is socialist, China is socialist, Canada and Great Britain and Japan all have awesome socialist healthcare plans, Venezuela is totally socialist. Seriously look how far behind we are!

Never mind the last 70 years of economic theory, the destruction of socialism-turned-totalitarianism in Germany and Italy, and the deep, gangrenous rotting of the Soviet Union over time that resulted, even to this day, in the horrendous health and poor lifespan if its people.

Keynes is where it's at! He was so good at economics they called him Lord Keynes.

I don't see any other economists getting called Lord. Not FA Hayek, not Milton Friedman, not John Nash.

Don't you guys realize that all these last 70 years of facts and real mathematics don't really actually mean anything? I mean, really, would all those other countries I talked about be socialist if all this "free market" stuff really worked? We gotta get with the program America. You can't count on facts! You gotta trust me! Even Andrew Sullivan says that's all that matters! Just trust me!

We can't let those pesky old facts get in the way of real progress!