Closer to shouldn't have purely emotional motivations - the dominant paradigm for normal left-wing people (as in, not LW) seems to be that political opinions are entirely emotional, and so, for instance, if you see yourself as an empathic person you might be in favour of writing off all debt, and you don't need to bother thinking about the logical ramifications of this. People who disagree with you do not do so because they have considered different lines of reasoning, they are evil.
I'm saying that its possible for politics to be decided by utilitarian calculations, but in practice it probably isn't.
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.
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