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analysis paralysis and other decision-making maladies
How complicated does choosing a new house color really need to be?
When’s the last time you undertook a big painting project? No, we’re not talking the actual painting, just choosing the color of the paint. Our home is going to be painted this spring, so we’ve got to get going on selecting a base color, trim and any accent colors we wish the painter to use.
It shouldn’t be that difficult, but the plethora of choices has, at least momentarily, paralyzed our decision-making. Grandfather Rasmussen, who was a painter in Denver, would be embarrassed. According to Sherwin Williams, Anonymous, City Loft, Greek Villa, Shoji, Reflection, & Drift of Mist are color names for some of the top 50 exterior hues in the US. Good luck in predicting the color by its’ name. There are so many gray toned colors, marketeers have brought some humor into the naming, like Amazing Gray, Dorian Gray, and of course Gray Matters. Expect spontaneous family disputes on whether a color is more green, brown or black. Color is in the eye of the beholder.
Chess, Checkers, Tic-Tac-Toe
If choosing a paint color can be mentally taxing, how much more difficult must it be to make informed, and responsible decisions regarding funding for homeless housing, supporting Ukraine or Israel, and combating climate change? It’s really hard. A chess-like approach that assesses opportunities and outcomes, not just for the immediate future, but many moves ahead is required. About 50 years ago any semblance to a chess-like approach in government decision-making was replaced with checkers. Not because the decision-making was easier, but because it was too hard to make responsible decisions and play politics too. Within the last couple of decades, checkers has been replaced with Tic-Tac-Toe, which in essence is not making a much of a decision at all. Decision-making at some levels is crippled and compromised. What use to be 'Tax and Spend', evolved to 'Spend and Tax’, to more recently just ‘Spend’ sans any legitimate funding.
Much like an ambiguous, but presumed lovely ‘Drift of Mist’ paint color, who can really know what a named legislative effort is all about. Who would intuitively think the Inflation Reduction Act would more likely increase than decrease inflation? Who would think an end of session Omnibus Bill is responsible government? Who would think two octogenarians, both of questionable moral character, are the best candidates for key US decision-making? We pawns voted for representation that believes the preceding encompass good decision-making. Pawns, be they some fancy shade of red or blue are the willing x’s and o’s of the new politics where easy decision-making is championed over the hard and responsible.
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