Advertise on podcast: The Week in Policymaker Ignorance

Scott discusses two recent books, David Zweig's An Abundance of Caution: American Schools, the Virus, and a Story of Bad Decisions, and Stephen Macedo & Frances Lee's In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us, through the lens of his own theoretical analysis of COVID-era policymaking, co-authored with Parker Crutchfield of Western Michigan University. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses the key question about the war in Iran - decapitation operation or regime-change war? - through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses one of his works-in-progress, "Liberalism's Ouroboros: DOGE and the Liberal Transition Problem in Stark Relief," which argues that the failures of the Department of Government Efficiency evince the epistemic difficulties inherent in effective liberalization policies. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott considers the significance of policymaker ignorance for the recent removal of Nicholas Maduro and ICE protests in Minnesota. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

In the sixth and final episode of the series on policymaker ignorance and the Vietnam War, Scott discusses the end of the War and the fall of Saigon, and provides an overview of the series. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses the part that policymaker ignorance played in the Vietnam War during the Nixon-Kissinger years. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Your intrepid host examines the role that policymaker ignorance played in some of the crucial events of the Vietnam War between mid-1965 and Spring 1968. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott analyzes the series of events and decisions (and lies, lots of lies) that led to the United States taking over the task of fighting the Vietnam War from the South Vietnamese. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott analyzes DOGE's activities through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance and briefly considers Trump's tariff policies, whatever, exactly, they might be. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses the catastrophic reign of Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, the emergence of the Viet Cong and development of the Ho Chi Minh trail, and the calamitous technocratic approach of the Kennedy administration to the Vietnam imbroglio. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses the role that policymaker ignorance played in the French decision to try to re-conquer their former colony in Indochina following WWII, the American decision to support the French, and the calamitous Battle of Điện Biên Phủ that ended the First Indochina War. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott considers the role that policymaker ignorance played in the failure to contain the Los Angeles fires and the legitimacy of the "climate change" excuse for said failure. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott considers the 2024 American Presidential Election, the candidates, and their campaign promises through the lens of the problem of policymaker ignorance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses the relationship between the widespread obsession with maximizing consensus, increasing calls for censorship in Western societies, and the problem of policymaker ignorance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com

Scott discusses various methods of promoting popular sovereignty in contexts where policymakers are too ignorant to realize goals associated with voters' preferences. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit policymakerignorance.substack.com