We need a word for when a government policy doesn't work quite as well as it's intended to, so then, instead of calling for it to be improved, people call for another policy that does the exact opposite.
For example, suppose the government has a "Free widgets for all!" policy that receives wide popular support. But it doesn't work as well as planned. There are delays in distributing the widgets, some people don't get the widgets that are due to them, some of the widgets go missing, etc. So then, next election cycle, people suddenly start calling for widgets to be banned.
That doesn't make sense, does it? Widgets are still good and important insofar as they were ever good and important. The people who didn't get widgets still need widgets. The people who did get widgets still use their widgets. Banning widgets will in no way solve the problems caused by inadequate widget distribution.
And yet, all too often, politics plays out this way. We need a name for this phenomenon.
1 comment:
The people who do this are often called privatizers, free-marketeers, neocons, neoliberals...
But you are absolutely right. We need a word for the pheonomenon of "it isn't working perfectly so kill it".
Any suggestions?
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