Chief Bob’s hearings might well be public[...] I don’t think I’ve ever been present for an actual court case, just seen them on TV.
This seems to me like an odd example given that you’re contrasting with American government, where court hearings are almost entirely public, written opinions are generally freely available, and court transcripts are generally public (though not always accessible for free). I guess the steelman version is that the contrast is a matter of geography or scale? Chief Bob’s hearings are in your neighborhood and involve your neighbors, whereas your local court might be across town during the business day and involve disputes between people you don’t know. But the American judicial system is a lot more accessible than it plausibly could be while still fulfilling its core function.
This ties into a point I don’t think I made very well in the original post, which is that doing all the work yourself and letting people feel like it’s handled is tugging the ladder up at least a little bit. Imagine someone growing up in a household where their parents always cook all the meals, then they move out and abruptly realize they don’t know how to fry an egg. It was always possible to watch the meal preparation, but why would they do that if they don’t think ahead and realize someday they’re going to have to do it themselves?
There’s a hazard in taking care of a problem too completely and too seamlessly, especially if you might someday stop. The American government is not what most people would call complete and seamless, but it has managed to let people not really pay attention to how it works most of the time.
Chief Bob’s hearings are in your neighborhood, involve your neighbors, and you’re expected to go and watch the proceedings because everyone else is. I’m not saying that’s better overall- policy debates are not onesided.
This seems to me like an odd example given that you’re contrasting with American government, where court hearings are almost entirely public, written opinions are generally freely available, and court transcripts are generally public (though not always accessible for free). I guess the steelman version is that the contrast is a matter of geography or scale? Chief Bob’s hearings are in your neighborhood and involve your neighbors, whereas your local court might be across town during the business day and involve disputes between people you don’t know. But the American judicial system is a lot more accessible than it plausibly could be while still fulfilling its core function.
Yep, it’s accessible. I haven’t gone.
This ties into a point I don’t think I made very well in the original post, which is that doing all the work yourself and letting people feel like it’s handled is tugging the ladder up at least a little bit. Imagine someone growing up in a household where their parents always cook all the meals, then they move out and abruptly realize they don’t know how to fry an egg. It was always possible to watch the meal preparation, but why would they do that if they don’t think ahead and realize someday they’re going to have to do it themselves?
There’s a hazard in taking care of a problem too completely and too seamlessly, especially if you might someday stop. The American government is not what most people would call complete and seamless, but it has managed to let people not really pay attention to how it works most of the time.
Chief Bob’s hearings are in your neighborhood, involve your neighbors, and you’re expected to go and watch the proceedings because everyone else is. I’m not saying that’s better overall- policy debates are not onesided.