Chris and I watched the Vice Presidential Debate from start to finish. We at times had side-bar discussions while the candidates were debating, but I believe we saw and heard the whole thing.
Two things that the Republican, JD Vance, said concern me the most. That, of course is aside from the outright lies and misrepresentations the spewed forth almost every time he spoke.
First, and most importantly, Vance would not affirm that Trump lost in 2020. That is huge. It continues to demonstrate that the republicans are not willing to accept the fact that the American voters fired Trump! And not just in the Electoral College, but by more than 7 million votes! Thus, they are laying the groundwork to not believe the voters in 2024. While republicans say they are worried about the 2024 election being stolen, my view is that if they are talking about someone else doing it they are already planning to commit the crime.
But wait, there is more!
I was outright scared by Vance's assertion that experts and scientists are not to be trusted. That 'common sense" should prevail. I remember that as the pandemic began, Trump's common sense told us that it was no worse than the flu and would go away. He did not trust the experts and in the end over 1 million Americans died. It is impossible to compute how much smaller the toll would have been with immediate action. Yes, I hear the argument that the experts were wrong.
Someone with true common sense would understand that when working against a problem that has never been seen before, experts and scientists take iterative approach is taken and there may be miscalculations. History shows that once Biden took office; expert advice was followed and the result was that America led the world out of the pandemic and has the strongest post pandemic economy--because of the experts AND because common sense said to follow the experts advice.
People with true common sense understand they need experts and scientists. True common sense uses all the tools at hand. For instance, science invented the LED light, common sense tells us when to use it.
I found the following:
- Common sense is mainly concerned with immediate action, while science is concerned with understanding the world independently of context and people.
- Science is an empirical field that uses observation and experimentation to develop knowledge. Scientific methodology includes objective observation, measurement, and data.
- Common sense is the knowledge that people are expected to know about the world, including properties, relationships, and interactions. Scientific knowledge is precise, well-founded, and systematic.
- People can hold incorrect beliefs based on common sense, such as believing that calorie-reducing diets are an effective treatment for obesity. Scientists are skeptical and cultivate an attitude of considering alternatives and searching for evidence.
- Examples of common sense include "You really should go to see a doctor if your leg hurts that much". Examples of scientific concepts include measurement, properties of matter, atoms, waves, genetics, electricity, and energy.(This was an AI generated response)
-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL