Monkey Cage: Republicans are increasingly antagonistic toward experts

[Matty]

On the other hand, why is it a good idea to simply accept what "experts" have to say at face value? Experts were wrong about the housing market, they were wrong about the 2-16 election, they were wrong about the iraq war.

There are an innumerable number of examples of "experts" getting things wrong, especially in the social sciences.

This issue has actually been debated for a long time. FA Hayek's last great work, "The Fatal Conceit", is devoted to this topic.

I can list other examples of experts being wrong: look at diet recommendations and the government food pyramid.

[Matty]

Pretty simple, if you think that the human beings who currently comprise the group known as "experts" disagree with you on more political things (e.g., Bill Nye yapping about abortion or something), you're going to be more skeptical of everything they say.  Sad but true.

Yeah, but it's literally around 95% of experts that Republicans disagree with on most issues.

If it was 50% or even 60% you might have a point, but finding anyone with a PhD who thinks Trumpcare will improve the nation's health or that Climate Change isn't real or that Same Sex Marriage leads to the denigration of society is an extreme challenge.

Republicans often need to stay in their Fox News info bubble to keep themselves feeling okay about their beliefs usually.

Depends on which field. Business "experts" or oil/nat gas "experts" probably favor GOP policy over dem policy.

BTW, science has been aligned with the leftwing for the last century and a half or so, in virtually every nation.

[Matty]

On the other hand, why is it a good idea to simply accept what "experts" have to say at face value? Experts were wrong about the housing market, they were wrong about the 2-16 election, they were wrong about the iraq war.

Look at everything else the eggheads did right. For example: the modern world

I'd say there is more cause for trust than skepticism. Just because they may not agree on guns or abortion doesn't mean their opinion on everything else is wrong. Same goes the other way.

Ok, I think you and I are not arguing the same issue. I'm not disparaging the role of "experts" when it comes to advancing society, tech, our economy, etc. Outside of luddites and economic dullards, you won't find people against technology.

The issue with "experts" in the political sphere revolve around 2 huge issues.

1) social science is not a science, has extremely high causal density (an innumerable amount of variables), and you cannot perform randomized control experiments in the social sciences. So, "experts" on gun control, or welfare, or economics, or crime are much less well-equipped than their hard science counterparts in actually determining the correct route or ont.

2) The issue of personal liberty. Experts, in the framing of this particular issue, tend to think that because they have higher IQs, they have some sort of right in ordering people around and designing society as they see fit.

Society is not a petri dish. It's not a lab where one person can manipulate, restrict, add, or subtract things as his/her will. It's a collection of an innumerable amount of individuals exchanging in mutually beneficial exchanges with others, all bounded by a shared sense of morality and right/wrong.

A scientific solution to something may not have a political/societal solution. For example, overpopulation. The science says it needs to stop. How do you do that politically?

[Matty]

Facts have a liberal bias. That's why conservatives believe #AlternativeFacts.

Or maybe all issues and problems have causes and solutions that fall into different political ideologies.

Basic probability says it is laughable that one, and only one, political ideology has the correct answer to all problems.

[Matty]

Pretty simple, if you think that the human beings who currently comprise the group known as "experts" disagree with you on more political things (e.g., Bill Nye yapping about abortion or something), you're going to be more skeptical of everything they say.  Sad but true.

Yeah, but it's literally around 95% of experts that Republicans disagree with on most issues.

If it was 50% or even 60% you might have a point, but finding anyone with a PhD who thinks Trumpcare will improve the nation's health or that Climate Change isn't real or that Same Sex Marriage leads to the denigration of society is an extreme challenge.

Republicans often need to stay in their Fox News info bubble to keep themselves feeling okay about their beliefs usually.

Yeah, that's a big problem. People like Romney or McCain both were supported by a decent amount of economists (even though economists in the US pretty clearly to the left and Obama easily would have carried them), but I don't think there is a single serious economist who supports Trump and his policies. Same for most other fields. Trump is killing the Republican party with intellectuals. And that's a terrible thing because we need to be a party of ideas.

economists as a whole may be left leaning on social issues, but on some big economic issues there really isn't consensus.