“Justified true belief” is the classical definition that has guided the study of knowledge for 2,500 years. The concept holds that in order to “know” a true statement is actually true, one must believe the true statement to be true, and possess valid justification for holding such belief. Though certain exceptions were suggested in the 1960s, the “justified true belief” concept continues to inform the study of knowledge and critical thought, owing to its logical simplicity, power and elegance. Those virtues notwithstanding, the concept has apparently not informed contemporary public debate.
President Obama has for months pressed Congress to extend unemployment benefits in response to the continuing slow labor market recovery. Economists, fiscal specialists, social scientists and behavioral psychologists are virtually unanimous in their shared conclusions that extended unemployment benefits as proposed by the President will: (i) not cause recipients to delay returning to work; (ii) have inconsequential impacts on public budgets; (iii) serve to spur, rather than retard, overall economic growth; and (iv) significantly mitigate hunger and misery for the unemployed, their families and their children. Hence, the president’s proposition that extension of unemployment benefits will be overwhelmingly beneficial for the nation as a whole, and for our most vulnerable members in particular, unambiguously meets the standard for “justified true belief;” it isn’t just something the president, researchers and experts “believe,” it is a proposition they truly “know,” based on the unequivocal preponderance of mountains of empirical evidence.
Nonetheless, Congressional Republicans have continuously obstructed efforts by the president and Democrats to extend unemployment benefits, allowing such benefits to expire for over a million long-term unemployed over the recent holidays, with benefits for millions more set to expire in the coming months. Recently, Senate Democrats overcame yet more Republican filibuster attempts, and advanced legislation to extend employment benefits, in accord with overwhelming economic evidence. Nonetheless, the legislation faces dire prospects in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.
Seemingly impervious to evidence and standards of rational thought, radical Republicans continue to falsely claim that unemployment benefits cause unemployment, harm the economy and greatly damage budgets. Republicans have no justifiable basis for making/believing such false claims. These Republican claims thus fail the essential elements of the “justified true belief” standard. We are therefore faced with two stark possibilities — either, the radical Congressional Republicans unjustifiably hold false beliefs, or they are being willfully dishonest about unemployment benefits.
It wasn’t always this way. Indeed, in prior periods of high unemployment in the post-war era, including during the Reagan administration, the economic, fiscal and humanitarian evidence was heeded by both parties, and unemployment benefits were maintained and extended until unemployment dropped to well below current levels. Reagan “knew” i.e., possessed “justified true belief” that — unemployment benefits accelerated economic recovery. No matter what the cause or motivation behind contemporary Congressional Republicans’ obstruction of unemployment benefits, their efforts are extremely harmful to our nation as a whole, but most especially to the most vulnerable among us.
The Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee supplies this column.