Fundamentalism

I have previously described "fundamentalism" as the inability to seriously entertain the possibility that your belief in a particular proposition, or collection of propositions, is wrong. I adopted this view after reading "Kindly Inquisitors" by conservative author Jonathan Rauch - a book I cannot recommend more highly, despite the fact that it is over 20 years old.

Anyway, in today's New York Times, Paul Krugman suggests an equally apt definition - the inability to be persuaded or dissuaded by evidence. Krugman is discussing the United States experiment with financial deregulation, beginning in the 1980's, and the corresponding financial calamities that it has spawned. His discussion is highly worth the time it will take you to read it.

The interesting thing is that not a single Republican voted for the reform bill last Friday, modest though it was in its re regulatory efforts. Not one!

Amazing.

Joe H.