Saturday, March 22, 2008

Keep Crazy Cultists out of Government

On Paul Krugman's Blog there is this offhand comment about Alan Greenspan by dartagnan:

Re Greenspan: What this country needs is a constitutional amendment specifying that no one who has read Ayn Rand’s novels can be chairman of the Federal Reserve Board.

I would say it is more than exposing yourself to kooky ideas it is the tendency to embrace the conspiracy theories as one's life's truth. There are certain ideologies that do more than imply but insist that their adherents should be trusted with nothing more dangerous than a limp strand of pasta. This in some ways goes beyond the principal of freedom of belief. The other half of which does not protect you from people who think you are complete nut job for holding such fantasies. You can believe what you want but you cannot insist on anybody's respect you for your "sincere deeply held personal beliefs".

No comments: