"The first step to wisdom is admitting how little we know and constructing a trial-and-error process on the basis of our own ignorance. Inject controlled experiments throughout government. Feel your way forward. Fail less badly every day."
"Controlled experiments throughout government"? An interesting idea, but what happens when you are unwilling to recognize the results?
US ground involvement in Afghanistan is a disaster, which has lasted more than a decade and has consumed on the order of a half trillion dollars. Peculiar how this has not become an issue in the forthcoming presidential election.
Obamacare? According to Chuck Blahous, public trustee for Medicare and Social Security, the Affordable Care Act will add more than $1.15 trillion to federal spending over the next decade, and between $340 billion and $530 billion to federal deficits over the same period (see: http://mercatus.org/sites/default/files/The-Fiscal-Consequences-of-the-Affordable-Care-Act.pdf). This is not sustainable.
Who needs experiments when the writing is on the wall, but no one is able to read it? Maybe, instead of experimentation, remedial reading coursework is required.
