The Facts Are in: Austerity Politics Doesn't Work

Wednesday, 04 December 2013 09:20  
By Sally Kohn, Yes! Magazine | Opinion

From England's double-dip recession to Portugal's spiking unemployment, there is now conclusive evidence of the complete failure of austerity.

The idea that rational thinking should govern political decision making in America dates back to our very founding. “Facts are stubborn things,” John Adams said, “and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

Oh, John Adams, where are you when we need you? Facts have been buried in a political era in which partisan ideology overrides reason. And while the Republican Party has embraced fact-free governance as its personal brand, Democrats are not entirely innocent either.