All things being equal, whose judgment would you trust most for major policy decisions?

[Bucky]

Poll question: All things being equal, whose judgment would you trust most for major policy decisions?

Yes, ideally you'd have a variety of inputs into decisions. But if you suddenly Boss of American and were reduced to getting advice from only one "ideal" aide, which following credential would be most helpful to you?

[CBGLuthier]

1. The one who knows the difference between "who's" and "whose."

[Bucky]

6. Option 11 - Snarking fuckin' English major

:P

[movonne]

2. ALL OF THE ABOVE

[Bucky]

5. Don't crap out.

I agree, it's a phony conjectural question. But seriously, when you get through all the questions of which field of expertise offers a way of understanding the world better than another, which one would you call the most important.

[Orsino]

28. All of the above.

The trouble is, the investment bankers and other Big Money pigs have squelched the voices of all the other citizens whose voices would make us a better nation.

I can't think of any possible good reason to choose only one of these.

[Johonny]

16. pretty much

any of the above may be a good source of advice. Good advice may come from people from all kinds of background, look how experienced Bushes team was and look how bad the advice was. It is the information you get, not who it comes from that is important.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Me.

[SDuderstadt]

4. I believe you mean...

"whose judgments, not "who's (who is) judgment".

[slackmaster]

7. Other - My mom

:nuke:

[Shiver]

17. I was going to say 'your mom'.

:hide:

[kirby]

8. Where are the engineers? n/t

[Aerows]

22. That's what I was looking for

I'd like someone able to do practical things with science, though because of my limited choices I ended up with Master's Degree in History. Someone with concrete knowledge is always helpful (not that history is ever entirely concrete).

[grahamhgreen]

9. Either the people or the dirty f*ckin hippies first!

[Bucky]

12. Scratch a hippie, you find a sociologist

[On the Road]

10. Wow -- Those are Pretty Poor Prospects for a Single Advisor

I had to choose the History option, since historians have a better sense of what things have been tried and how they have played out.

The last person you would want to frame policy is an activist of any kind.

[Bucky]

15. And yet....

so far 18 of 23 respondents went with people with real life, hands-on experience over those with academic training.

[On the Road]

19. Yes, But That Choice Wasn't Offered

To be an advisor, you need to be see the results of a set of policies and how to get there. And to have the perspective of a whole country among other countries.

The entrepreneur would have some experience with that, but it's very narrow -- one small enterprise vs. a whole economy. The human rights activist would be even narrower in a sense.

[cali]

11. I find the op truly silly. n/t

[Tippy]

13. Common Sense should be a requirement

[zorahopkins]

14. Library Sciences Degree

I would select someone (preferably a woman) with a degree in Library Sciences.

Such people tend to be sober in their judgments and well-versed in history, economics, sciences, and the arts.

[Ozymanithrax]

18. A degree is a piece of paper...It would depend on who holds the degree or office...

in the case of the Union Leader.

[zorahopkins]

21. I'd Kinda Like Someone With A Piece Of Paper

I think I would prefer someone with a piece of paper saying that she had a medical degree to operate on me.

That, I think, would be much better than having someone who did not have such a piece of paper perform surgery on me.

Some pieces of paper are important.

[Ozymanithrax]

24. Bush had a degree in bussiness...earned with a c grade given to him...

in return for money dontaed to the college.

Some doctors, even with a degree, are so abysmally bad that I'd rather get surgery from a fireing squad.

I've known PHD's who were very inteligent pieces of shit.

Only by looking at the Person + the degree can I make a decision.

Union Leaders don't need a degree at all. But some some Union Leaders I've known have been more beholden to management than labor, so I would still need to know the person.

[Johonny]

25. Michele Bachmann has a J.D. and LLM

so hard to argue against you :)

[Ozymanithrax]

26. Dan Quayle also has a J.D. ... Was it POtato or?

[hfojvt]

20. Hey, I have two votes. woohoo

M.A. in economics.

I am not sure about that vote though. Some of those people can be pretty conservative. Although I remember most of my classmates being pretty liberal. Surprisingly even one of my conservative office mates sounded liberal when I contacted him in 2003. He was bashing both Bush W and Reagan. Back in grad school he was the obnoxious conservative, so it was odd that getting a PhD and a good-paying job seemed to have made him more liberal.

[JDPriestly]

23. Woops! I voted for labor union leader. I thought we were voting for

the ultimate decisionmaker/leader/spokesman.

I would have voted for the history expert if I had realized the question was about an aide.

History is the key to understanding what not to do. And the most common problem of advisers is that they don't know enough about what has already been done wrong.

Sorry. I guess I can't change my vote. I would have voted for the history expert.

Also, I don't think that people voted for the human rights advocate and the labor leader because of their hands-on experience but rather because of their values.

You cannot tell from a person's field of study or expertise what their values are. But you can tell from the work they choose to do -- labor union leader or human rights worker -- what their values are.

Economists are concerned about what incentives cause people to do things more than with values.

I don't think you poll provides you with the information you are drawing from it. I don't think people decided depending on whether a person had hands-on experience or not. You can't tell whether a PhD in history or economics worked in some other field before getting that degree.

[KamaAina]

27. Other: Master's degree in sexuality studies

seriesly. I have one in particular in mind. But please, people, get your minds out of the gutter: she also has a law degree. :-)

[badtoworse]

29. My own - nt