“What could be rationally wrong with collectively considering where we want to go and what might be the best way of getting there? So much is wrong it is hard to know where to begin. The question itself is confusing. Does destination know no limitation? Do we first decide where and then how? This priority is pervasive; it is no better than reverse, as if the journey always mattered more than the destination. No, where one wishes to go depends on whether one is able to get there. Life is larger than our categories. When my grandfather lost the family fortune, comprised of fifty rubles, he went to see the local miracle Rabbi, Joseph of Slutsk, who consulted mystical works, and told him to collect ten kopecs apiece from his friends and relatives and take it to the train. “But where shall I go?” Grandpa cried. “As far as your money will take you,” replied the Rabbi, who knew more about the relationship of resources to objectives than his seemingly scientific successors.”
-Speaking Truth to Power: The Art and Craft of Policy Analysis
By Aaron Wildavsky
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