Hello. Let me introduce myself. I am a retired Federal government professional, born in New York City in 1957 and raised in a nonreligious, somewhat leftish family of Jewish origin. I live just outside of Washington DC with my wife and three cats. (One of our two adult children is also currently at home, the other in college nearby.) I have been closely following politics—and especially electoral politics—since well before I was old enough to vote.
When I retired eight years ago (in the wake of Donald Trump’s 2016 election) several of my colleagues encouraged me to start a political blog. I did not follow up that suggestion at that time, but have mostly satisfied my desire to remark on the political landscape in conversations with my family and in online comments on Web sites including Political Wire (PW). However, I have become aware that some of my comments are probably too lengthy and perhaps also too analytical for the PW comment format (they seem to get the fewest “like”s) and might be better suited for a blog.
I do not start out with high expectations for this blog—my main purpose is self-expression—or with specific plans for the content or frequency of my posts. However, I do hope that at least a few people will follow and perhaps appreciate my commentary here, and perhaps respond with their own thoughts on topics where we share an interest.
My political perspective is generally but not reflexively liberal. As a retired economist, I do believe that society needs to offer some financial incentives to elicit many forms of desired behavior. At the same time, I believe that the capabilities and opportunities that lead to individual success in labor markets and in markets more generally are mostly a matter of “luck” (genetic heritage, family and community circumstances, random events) and outside of our control. Hence I favor redistributive policies to reduce the effect of such luck on well-being to the extent that this is possible while retaining a reasonable level of individual economic incentive for productive choices.
With regard to personal behavior, my leanings are generally mildly libertarian, and in particular I have little sympathy for government limits on personal choices that are based on specific religious teachings. However, I do believe that the government has an important role in protecting the well-being of children, even when that may limit parental liberty.
Finally, my views on human nature are informed by my belief that our range of behaviors reflects our history as evolved creatures, and those views are probably more pessimistic than those of the average liberal. I think this inclines me against utopianism and I like to think that it encourages me to be realistic about what is politically possible and about the conditions that are likely to foster good political decision-making.
Well, I hope that this gives you enough to judge whether you are likely to be interested in anything I have to say….