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Yes, but the bar needn't be to find the "best" first step. We just need to find a sufficiently large first step.

This is standard triage procedure, we don't halt all treatment until we've sorted through every possible procedure the hospital could provide. Instead, we look for areas that need our attention now and try to get them at the front of the queue.

Triage staff aren't seeking the best, most optimal first patient. They are trying to identify problems that need our attention.




Politics isn’t emergency medicine. In the former, doing nothing is a heavily rewarded default.


Parts of politics are absolutely emergency medicine. Yes, some things should not change rapidly. But some things deserve urgent attention.

Doing nothing is not always a sensible default.


I wasn't making a value judgment about "ought to be", but rather an estimation that a politician has a hell of a lot more to lose by doing something unpopular than by doing nothing.

That's the sense in which doing nothing is a sensible default for a career politician who wishes to extend their career.




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