Conventional Wisdom
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit magazine
Sometimes I have to question the “conventional wisdom†of others, especially when it comes to transit-related matters. We’ve all heard the term conventional wisdom, but do you really know what it means? Conventional wisdom refers to ideas accepted as generally true by the public or “experts.†The problem I have is when conventional wisdom is used to make “wise†decisions.
See, the crux of conventional wisdom is (as Wikipedia explains) that the definition implies the wisdom here is just something that has been accepted as fact by the general populace, and therefore subject to reexamination in the future. The problem with this is that the general populace is a fickle beast that can change its feelings on a topic on a proverbial dime.
Take for example our current all-consuming media black hole, the presidential election. How many times in the last two months have you heard about “gaffs†or “game-changers� You know, those seemingly innocuous statements that get overanalyzed and scrutinized, possibly changing someone’s view on a topic, or in this case candidate. Heck, for each debate we were told to specifically watch for them and you felt as if you won something if you were the first to spot that one turn of phrase that the media blasted across the stratosphere the next week.
This week a story came out about how the candidates felt about transit-related issues, specifically those around the Washington, D.C., area. When asked about the importance of investing in infrastructure, the Obama spokesman said the investment should begin now. The McCain spokesman said the infrastructure investments were an imperative, but needed to be done wisely, which was the campaigns top priority.
Here is where I question the wisdom of, well, doing things wisely. “Conventional wisdom†will tell us that we need to make a serious investment in our infrastructure. After the I-35 bridge collapse this was almost accepted as unimpeachable truth. Now, it can (and will) be debated in the context of investing “wisely.†The same could be said for the conventional wisdom of spending money on security post-9/11. After the terrorist attacks money was desperately needed to shore up our nation’s security and it was spent — but was it spent wisely? That didn’t come up for debate until much later.
If you ask me, I think we should stop trying to use conventional wisdom and go with something a little more, dare I say it, blue collar — you know, what a plumber might use. Let’s go with common sense.
Common sense, which basically equates to knowledge and experience people already have, tells me that we need to invest in infrastructure. Why? Well, when a 16-lane highway is getting gridlocked, we need to rethink how we are moving people. When I need to show up to an airport hours before a flight to be there “on time,†we need to rethink how we move people. When buses and trains across the nation are stuffed with riders and systems have to cut routes because they are over budget due to rising fuel costs or flagging sales tax revenues, we need to rethink how we move people.
Conventional wisdom tells us the transit system in the United States works fine as it is. It has worked for decades and we are still getting where we need to go. Conventional wisdom, says if things change we can reexamine it later.
Common sense tells us the transit system in the United States is on the brink of disaster with issues of aging infrastructure, congestion, rising fuel costs and overcrowded transit systems just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of problems we are staring at. Common sense says we need to change things now before they get worse.
Let’s not spend too much time trying to make “wise†decisions instead of the right decisions.
Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
October 27th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Common sense decisions are usually the right or “wise” decisions. You can’t just throw money at things without first thinking about the results or you wind up with a bridge to nowhere or our current public school systems. It is foolheartedly to spend money “unwisely” because pretty soon the well is going to run dry. Maybe the wise decision would have been to invest in mass transit instead of the 16 lane highway.