{"id":782,"date":"2008-04-07T19:34:37","date_gmt":"2008-04-08T01:34:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/?p=782"},"modified":"2008-04-07T19:34:37","modified_gmt":"2008-04-08T01:34:37","slug":"only-libs-need-apply","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/?p=782","title":{"rendered":"Only Libs Need Apply"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here’s a good point<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Washington Post refers to Ralph Nader\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Public Citizen as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a public-interest group\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in an article on costly federal regulations that the group is defending. So I wondered: Does the Post think federal regulation is always in the public interest? Or that groups that defend regulation are really acting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in the public interest\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? What about groups that work to reduce the burden of government on consumers or taxpayers? Are they \u00e2\u20ac\u0153public interest groups\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? Certainly, as a member of the public, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really see bigger, costlier government and more expensive products as being in my interest.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

But how about the National Taxpayers Union, which works to eliminate wasteful spending and reduce the burden of government? Was it a public interest group? Not in the Post. How about the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which works for competition and more choice for consumers? Not a public interest group.<\/p>\n

The Post seems to have a very consistent but arguably wrong-headed view about just what is in the public\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He clearly fails to grasp that it’s in the public interest to be liberal. Anything else is not a public interest, it’s a special interest.<\/p>\n

Teacher’s unions crippling our public schools? Public interest.<\/p>\n

People trying to introduce competition into the school system? Special interest.<\/p>\n

Got it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a good point: The Washington Post refers to Ralph Nader\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Public Citizen as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a public-interest group\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in an article on costly federal regulations that the group is defending. So I wondered: Does the Post think federal regulation is always in the public interest? Or that groups that defend regulation are really acting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in the … Continue reading Only Libs Need Apply<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2BzKF-cC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=782"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelsiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}