September 12, 2006

Quotes > Bryan Caplan's Fallacy

"Something must be done. This is something. Therefore, this must be done."
 -- Bryan Caplan, diagnosing the "we gotta do something even if it's wrong" school of thought.

Something else I liked from Caplan's piece:

Payne's article reminded me of my recurring thought as I read Rothbard's biography: "I can understand why two deeply incompatible movements would ally if one has 49% of the vote and the other has 2%. What I can't understand is why two deeply incompatible movements would ally if one has .01% of the vote and the other has .001%."

In other words, I can see why someone would sacrifice principle for political advantage, though I wouldn't do it myself. But I can't see why someone would sacrifice principle when - even after the sacrifice - he's still hopelessly outnumbered.

Posted by lesjones | TrackBack



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