Episode 101: The False Universality of “Common Sense”

<div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor--paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="bg6gh" data-offset-key="f2tr-0-0"> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="f2tr-0-0"><span data-offset-key="f2tr-0-0">“145 CEOs Call On Senate To Pass 'Common-sense, Bipartisan' Gun Laws,” NPR states. “Local Democrat pushes back on NY bail reform law: It's about 'common sense,' not politics,” a Fox News headline reads. “The Only Thing More Dangerous Than Trump’s Appeal to Common Sense Is His Dismissal of It,” The Nation warns. Everywhere we turn we are told by pundits and politicians that "common sense" demands we support their preferred policy prescription.</span></div> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="f2tr-0-0"> </div> </div> <div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor--paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="bg6gh" data-offset-key="6a94v-0-0"> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6a94v-0-0"><span data-offset-key="6a94v-0-0">It's a common appeal: a political issue—whether health-insurance, immigration, foreign policy, or gun violence—reaches a real or perceived extreme, and, in reaction, media pundits and political figures claim the most appropriate response must be ostensibly neutral, reasonable "common sense" reforms.</span></div> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="6a94v-0-0"> </div> </div> <div class="_2TO-components-SimpleRichTextEditor--paragraphElement" data-block="true" data-editor="bg6gh" data-offset-key="5249i-0-0"> <div class= "public-DraftStyleDefault-block public-DraftStyleDefault-ltr" data-offset-key="5249i-0-0"><span data-offset-key="5249i-0-0">But these claims are insidious. While "common sense" may appear to be a constructive guiding principle, there is no meaningful definition of the concept and when it is evoked, it's almost always an appeal to status quo ideology. Wh