Symposium: Causal Confusion - Intercollegiate Studies Institute

Symposium: Causal Confusion

This article is in response to “The Duties of a Free Citizen and is part of the symposium on What Is Wrong with Conservatism and How Do We Make It Right?

Dr. Gutzman has a knack for naming the problem; his piece, “The Duties of a Free Citizen,” is more than willing to herd into the stockyard droves of sacred cows. But—stipulating up front that Dr. Gutzman knows a whole lot more than I do about most things—it is what comes before the diagnosis that concerns me. At the risk of quibbling, Dr. Gutzman’s accounts of causes are not infrequently dubious. A few examples:

  • “The current depression resulted from the decision by George W. Bush and Alan Greenspan to finance the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars via currency inflation…”
  • “Social Security is completely unfunded. It cannot continue…. The same goes for Medicare. Conservatives should be screaming this from the rooftops. Instead, as I write, the Federal Government’s meddling in the Middle East has us close to yet another war.”
  • “As a result of foreigners’ resentment of, and resistance to, America’s ubiquitous meddling in conflicts about which American policymakers generally know naught, citizens now endure indignities at the hands of the TSA, snooping on the part of the NSA, death and maiming of young soldiers, and Fed-generated boom-bust cycles to pay for it all.”

I, too, think the Fed can be blamed for most things; but Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and a dangerously expanding housing bubble were around long before George W. Bush. Social Security and Medicare are insolvent whether or not we bomb Syria; we could zap our entire defense budget and still not be able to fund our collapsing welfare programs. As for TSA and the NSA, they are responsible for egregious violations of citizens’ rights—but calling Islamic terrorism “resistance to America’s ubiquitous meddling” smacks a bit too much of victim-blaming, at least for this reader.

None of that is to deny that Dr. Gutzman’s America—a country without abortion, a 20-person entourage for the First Lady, or Labor Day—would be, on the whole, a better place. But there is the very reasonable concern that incorrectly identifying causes could lead one to propose untenable or harmful solutions. I am supportive of many of Dr. Gutzman’s recommendations. But I worry about a conservatism that neglects careful consideration of the forest because of all the enticing, axe-worthy trees.

 

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