As a retired pastor, I remember well watching from the pulpit the playful interaction between spouses when one would “elbow” the other if I said something in the sermon that one spouse wanted the other to listen to. We call that a “nudge.” Those of you with household pets also know the meaning of the word nudge when the dog comes to your bedside too early in the morning, and with a gentle push against your arm reminds you to get up and take him out, or the cat jumps up on the bed and nudges your face in a not so gentle reminder that it’s time for her breakfast.
When is a nudge not quite so playful or gentle? How about when it comes from your president in the form of an executive order in an effort to get you to change your behavior to conform to his agenda and his political ideology?
President Obama signed such an executive order on Tuesday of this week. He’s been talking about issuing this type of regulation since 2013, but the concept goes back to 2009 when he appointed Harvard law school professor Cass Sunstein as his “regulatory czar”. Sunstein’s official title was Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and he held that office until 2012.
In 2008, Sunstein and University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler, both of whom call themselves specialists in the field of human behavior, collaborated on writing a book aptly named “Nudge”. In their book they set forth the premise that government policies can be designed in a way that “nudges” citizens towards certain behaviors and choices.
Michael Thomas, an economist at Utah State University made this statement in reviewing this book. “I am very skeptical of a team promoting nudge policies. Ultimately, nudging…assumes a small group of people in government know better about choices than the individuals making them.”
Sunstein and the president publicly admitted that much of the Obamacare legislation was based on the “nudge” principle, which is, simply put in layman’s language, getting you to do what the government thinks is best for you.
Other areas where the nudge principle comes into play in your everyday affairs is combating obesity in yourself and others, or saving for retirement.
The specific order last week, in a report by the “Daily Caller”, authorizes federal agencies to “conduct behavioral experiments on U.S. citizens in order to advance government initiatives.” So, how does that word experiment strike you? Were you aware your government is trying out some experiments on you, without your knowledge (up to now) and without your giving your consent?
The executive order further encourages federal agencies to “identify policies, programs and operations where applying behavioral science insights may yield substantial improvements in public welfare, program outcomes, and program cost effectiveness.”
Government agencies, such as the Labor Department which deals with wages and working conditions, the Social Security Administration, Affordable Health Care, transportation, education, immigration, national defense, the school lunch program,(the list is endless) are all instructed by this Executive order to “consider how the presentation and structure of any choices offered to us (the American citizens), including the order, number, and arrangement of options, can most effectively promote public welfare.”
Shades of Ayn Rand and collectivism! It’s always the public good, never what is best for the individual citizen. Michelle Obama doesn’t care about the special needs of your child when she decrees what the school must serve for lunch, or whether your daughter likes it or not, or whether your son might be allergic to it, it’s all about what Michelle thinks is good for all children of America, as a whole.
Since when does one woman in Washington,D.C., unelected and unappointed and even unknown to the general public just eight years ago, get to decide what school children in central Missouri eat? Why would her food choices impress you when her social choices sicken you? Did you hear her announcement just last month that Beyonce was not only her best friend, but was the perfect role model for her two daughters. If you don’t know what I mean by that, just check out the videos of Beyonce’s songs.
The new Executive Order also suggests that government agencies should change the labels used to identify certain expenditures such as “benefits, taxes, subsidies” to make them more palatable to Americans. Do you think this is why the Administration called the large tax component of Obamacare just a mandate until the Chief Justice determined it is indeed a tax? And have you noticed that the administration refers to any tax increases as “investments” in our society now?
And why do you think the administration does not like for us to use the term “illegal immigrant” or “Islamist?”
Obama and Sunstein have both said that increased regulation such as the one the president signed on Tuesday was also needed to help boost the economy because the government would be hiring more people to enforce it.
Oh, yes, just as an aside, Sunstein is married to Samantha Power. You know her, the one with the unpermed red hair who serves as the U.S. Ambassador to the UN. They are ganging up on us, folks. We get at least two academic liberals for the price of one anymore. But maybe that’s because it takes more than one just to make up half a brain.
Zbigniew Brezinski wrote in “Between Two Ages, America’s Role in the Technotronic Era” in 1970: “The technochronic era involves the gradual appearance of a more controlled society. Such a society would be dominated by an elite (class) unrestrained by traditional values. Soon it will be possible to assert almost continuous surveillance over every citizen and maintain up-to-date complete files containing even the most complete personal information about the citizen. These files will be subject to instantaneous retrieval by the authorities.”
What an incredible display of political prescience, by a Democrat, no less.
Joan Hart copyright September 2015
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