Experts are Humans Too

Eli,

I’m amused by what sets people off, including what I thought was a benign comment that I have less faith than you in the expertise of experts. To me it’s a rather mundane belief that experts don’t set aside their human failings while being experts. I know I don’t. My job requires me to evaluate businesses,  plans, valuation, competition and personnel. The hardest part is keeping emotion out of it because so often I don’t want something to succeed because of some offense I’ve taken. Pure emotion overrides my analytical expertise. Happens often. I don’t think I’m that different than the average person, or expert, in that respect. There are parts that are mechanical, less subject to emotion, and that aspect, sure, experts are marvelous.

This exchange arose because I questioned a Colorado proposal to give the power to draw representative districts to an expert commission. Giving polticial power to a group is dangerous, why would I just hop on board becasue they are “experts?”  Plus, it seems the Dems (you) only really cared about gerrymandering when the GOP won. Maybe not, maybe you think all gerrymandering should be eliminated. Are you willing to argue the majority-minority districts should be part of that elimination? After all, they are court ordered gerrymandering. Will the experts be allowed to exclude those when they un-gerrymander? And if so, how will they treat the changing aspects of the special districts. And I’m willing to be convinced, but  not convinced currently, that gerrymandering is worse now than it was at any other time in our history or results in an unrepresentative House. The last time I checked if a party wins about 50% of the vote they get about 55% of the reps, and that’s kind of where we are now.

So not only do I still have less faith in the expertise of experts, but I’m not convinced gerrymandering is such a vital issue that only exerts can solve.

Bill