Maggie's Farm

It is the present American mentality which is quickly destroying the country.

In Korea, where we spent part of the fall, the country decides it wants to do something, isolates the problems that have to be addressed, comes up with solutions to the problems, and then does the project.

In America, people spend 10 years going through an administrative process debating why the project should NOT be done, rather than how it CAN be done. So by the end of the process, either (most likely) it isn't done, or costs 10 times as much as it would have if it had been done in a timely manner, or is obsolete by the time it is done.

In large part this is due to environmentalists inserting the "precautionary principle" into all areas of law. It presumes any action must have some negative result unless the proponent can demonstrate that it does not. With the precautionary principle a permit applicant must demonstrate with clear and convincing evidence that its project will not have any adverse effects. In other words, if there is any conceivable possibility the project could cause a harm we must err on the side of caution and not allow it to be built. This requires the applicant to prove a negative, a logical fallacy and an impossible and never-ending task. "Well, did you consider that the project might cause the moon to change its orbit?" "Well, wouldn't there be a negative effect on the brown-banded tsetse fly in the next county because you could be affecting its migration patterns?" And so on and so forth.

The "precautionary principle" used to be known as the logical fallacy of "Argument from Ignorance." Now it is ingrained in many of the nation's laws as the standard that must be met before the action will be permitted. It basically chills or kills all development or innovation.

As a result, America is falling further and further behind much of the rest of the developed/developing world, as economic opportunity, development and innovation go elsewhere.