Our Platform for Outlining Colorado’s Future

In the latter half of 2009, a wave of fear swept over hundreds of Toyota owners. They raised a terrifying claim: their cars were suddenly accelerating out of control. The aftermath was a whirlwind of activity - Toyota recalled 10 million vehicles, settled numerous lawsuits, and paid fines exceeding $1 billion. The conclusion appeared self-evident - there was a significant flaw in the world's most popular cars. Except, there wasn't. What transpires when hysteria supersedes common sense? Mentioned Podcast Our society teeters dangerously close to the precipice if we continue making decisions based on narratives, biases, anecdotes, and infotainment. It's time we pivot towards a more pragmatic approach - a political party that leans on reason and cost-benefit analysis to steer its decision-making process. Malcolm Gladwell's insightful podcast delves into the intricacies of public folly. Instances like the Toyota acceleration debacle wouldn't occur if we prioritized delib...

In the realm of political thought, a provocative idea has emerged - should we lower the voting age to zero but weigh votes based on voters' understanding of relevant information? This concept was recently discussed by Robin Hanson: "Can we extend voting to younger ages, but also weigh votes via informedness?" ( Link to source ) That would combine the liberal and conservative approaches, such as from @jasonfbrennan. Let me clarify - I'm not advocating for an immediate drop of the voting age to zero and the introduction of a test to rank votes. Instead, I'm more interested in questioning the roots of our current voting age limit. Is it a blanket assumption that older individuals possess more knowledge? That's certainly not always the case. So, why not consider testing knowledge directly, rather than using age as a loose proxy? One might question, "Who gets to decide what it takes to be informed?" A fair counter, but couldn't the same be asked of ou...

The internet has given rise to numerous discussions, debates, and ideological sparring platforms. From LateStageCommunism to LateStageCapitalism , these forums often present divergent views of the world. While critical discussions are essential for growth, it's equally important to acknowledge the need for nuance and compromise, especially when discussing economic systems like capitalism and communism. We indeed need to educate everyone about the gulags and the failures of communism, but simply mocking or belittling those who contribute to forums like LateStageCapitalism is not the solution. Winning hearts and minds is not about outdoing the other side in low-quality, over-simplistic rhetoric. It's about out-thinking them, out-facting them, and engaging them with empathy and respect. One common critique that often surfaces in these discussions is the issue of monopolies. While opponents of capitalism criticize its potential for creating business monopolies, they often overlook...