[dto1138]

I'll tell you what's wrong with this article. McCumber tells us that Americans' traditional demand for autonomy is really just a government conspiracy cooked up by RAND. Okay all you NYT commenters nodding in agreement---really, the clamor of the present-day Ugly American to repeal Obamacare and reduce the tax burden and rein in the EPA and the Federal Reserve and decriminalize marijuana---all these Americans groaning about the financial and regulatory weight of the federal government and its increasing impingements on our freedom---is actually also a GOVERNMENT conspiracy?

Folks, here we have a university professor who, may he delve into Hegel, Marx, or Quine, rather unsurprisingly comes up with the same standard NYT lecture---you know, the one about why Americans do not really WANT what they want (and don't deserve it, anyway, because they're too self absorbed.) Oh, and besides, W.V.O Quine criticized Rational Choice Theory. Now, WVO Quine was one of the top ten minds of the 20th century, so it might seem portentous to cite his authority here, however he seems to have been against many things that would be dear to most readers of this paper, including public education. Here's a wikipedia link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willard_Van_Orman_Quine#Politic...