Views on the News from the Couch
My goal is to explore subjects that interest me – and might interest you – with some occasional humor and less partisan spin.
I call myself a conservative at about the 40‑yard line for Republicans but even that gets confusing given how far crazies and the media have moved the goalposts.
My aim is simple: call out the crazy on all sides and pull the conversation back toward a sane middle. AND encourage people to read the actual source material instead of just repeating headlines or relying on the media to tell us what we need to know. Full disclosure, I probably miss some of the crazy on the right.
If that sounds like your lane, give Views on the News from the Couch a try – and if you like it, please share it.
Be safe, and wear sunscreen.
Views on the News from the Couch
Why I think the left has more stupid ideas than the right.
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Today’s February 19, 2026 Views on the News from the Couch podcast asks the important question: Why do I think the left, littered with smart people and many academics, has more stupid ideas than the right?
Not that the right doesn’t have its own stupid ideas—we absolutely do. I’ve voted for Trump three times, but most of my conservative friends and I are unhappy with the tariff situation. And we could name a few others. And we express those criticisms.
My experience is that conservative bad ideas are more likely to get winnowed out faster, while a lot of bad ideas on the left live much longer, with less criticism, and a lot more social pressure to pretend they’re brilliant.
I want to walk through why I think that is—using a couple of lenses: capitalism vs. central planning, something called the Abilene paradox, and how elite media and elite psychology help dumb ideas survive.
