Yuri Tarnopolsky
This is a compact version of updatable Essay 28: Simple Reasons. Simple Reasons
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Contrary to the
popular belief, there are simple reasons for everything and they can be stated
in a few lines. Just start your question with a “why.” Here is a demo.
Because
the US Constitution is a result of an intelligent design, while the modern life
is result of evolution.
2.
Why are we insatiable consumers?
Because
the more we have, the more we have not. If we have a car, we don't have
a
better car. If we have a car and a boat,
we don't have a better car and a
better boat.
3.
Why should we watch out for simple people in the government?
Beware
of simple people: they have only one goal. Most probably, it is different from
yours, while a complex person may
4.
Why do we elect a simple person to lead the country in the complex world?
This
is natural if we don't like our neighbors.
5.
Why has the Iraq war failed the expectations of its planners? Incompetence
is the simplest of all reasons. Unless you are Noah, you may botch a
catastrophic flood, but insurgents have 6.
Why don’t we boot out the incompetent commanders?
History
gives us an excuse for military failure: one of the sides loses all the time.
7.
Why are people unable to draw somber lessons from history?
Those
who could learn the gravest lesson are dead. Those who have survived can draw
only a lesson of optimism. 8.
Why are people rarely honest about simple reasons?
Money
does not smell. Simple reasons do. 9.
Why are the reasons in fact simple? Because
complex reasons can offset each other and stall any action. Since they are
simple, even Hamlet makes his move.
10.
Why is the mutual loyalty in the inner circle crucially important for some
leaders?
They
have something to hide.
11.
Why is the level of education in many public high schools so low?
Because
the teachers are paid while the education is free. 12.
Why is the world fragmenting into ever smaller states on the pretext of ethnic
or religious independence?
In
a smaller state you improve your chance to have a friend or a relative in the
government.
13.
Why is the opposition to Darwin so strong in America, the paradise of science? America
is a paradise of common sense. Whether God or Darwin, it is about the
long gone past and has nothing to do with 14.
Why is death such an unpopular subject in America?
Because the dead do not shop.
15. Why do we deny easy death to
terminally ill people? They
never hire a lawyer to sue for the torture before death. 16.
Why would some people in America want to weaken Social Security?
They
know that without safety net there will be more poverty, the USA will depend
less on cheap foreign labor, and America
17.
Why do the same people want to strengthen religion?
Obviously,
if you make the government weaker, you need another strong hand to keep the
flock together.
18.
If the reasons are always simple, why do we mess everything up so often?
The
reasons are simple, but the solutions are complex. 19. Why
is America so anti-intellectual?
Because
intellect cannot be taxed. One of the most fascinating contradictions in the
modern psyche is that while few things are 20.
Does it mean that tax cuts make American values worthless? Does it mean
that religion is worthless?
Sorry,
you have to start with a “why.” Why? It makes you think twice.
21.
Why could globalization undermine America? Because
the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Dependence on Foreign
Labor, Oil, and Talents do not
22.
Why are financial achievements in America more glorified than intellectual
ones?
You
can never lose your intellectual achievement, but you can lose your money.
23.
Why is the two-party system risky?
Because
as "there is only one step from the sublime to the ridiculous"
(Napoleon) , there is only one step from the two-party
24.
Why can't we have a three-party system?
Because
even a small third party would be the most powerful one in Congress, shifting
the vote balance. To woo it would not
25.
Why is the concept of "the only superpower" senseless?
Because
the power must be proved in the contest with an equal. 26.
Why do we as a nation need strong and invincible enemies?
Because when an enemy is defeated, his former features are kosher to borrow. A good
enemy inoculates us from becoming
27.
Why is it possible for a democracy to attack another country with the purpose
of democratizing and thereby
Sorry,
simple reasons apply only to rational decisions.
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