Welcome to "PRECEPTION MANAGEMEN 101"
Barring any surprises in his confirmation hearing this week, Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein will become the new White House "regulatory czar." Best known off-campus for the best-selling book he co-authored last year with economist Richard Thaler (Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness), President Obama's choice to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has generally been a popular one.
Using government to "nudge" us toward better choices sounds good in theory.
But now Sunstein is in the position to put this idea into practice
As recently as 2007, Sunstein publicly argued in favor of a legal ban on hunting, and for the elimination of meat-eating. In 2004, he co-authored a book on the animal liberation philosophy which sets out an ambitious plan to give animals the legal "right" to file lawsuits. But a 2002 working paper Sunstein wrote at the University of Chicago contains the biggest red flag about what may lie ahead.
"There should be," Sunstein wrote, "extensive regulation of the use of animals."What kind of regulations could our newest czar have in mind? A cheeseburger tax? A steakhouse zoning ordinance? A vegetarian overhaul of the National School Lunch Program like the one proposed by the Norfolk-based PETA? (No matter what the vegan crowd claims, after all, milk still does a body good.)
On Sunstein's first official week at the helm of OIRA, it's impossible to know exactly what's coming down the pike. But as he takes up what has been aptly described in The New Republic as "the most important position that Americans know nothing about," we would be wise to start paying greater attention.
Op-Ed
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/ne...181422/267293/
