However, perhaps the most serious problem raised by this white paper, which effectively represents the collapse of government commitments to comprehensive reform unifying social care funding, legislation and quality, is the lack of any cogent alternative.
It is already apparent that John McCain will not fare well in the glare of a one-on-one general election campaign against an opponent with a cogent alternative to the disastrous policies of the last 8 years.
There are still no cogent alternatives to these ideas.
The real question is: Can they be unified enough to present a relevant and cogent program and alternative?
Hamlice is an adaptation by Punzo that entwines Hamlet with Alice in Wonderland, and in which Shakespeare's characters liberate themselves in Lewis Carroll's world (one which, incidentally, is highly cogent in Italian alternative culture, and played an important role in the insurgent movement in Italy during the 1970s, whose main radio station was called Radio Alice).
While Frum and Mead may have no qualms about+a foreign policy based on fear and see no "cogent and convincing alternative strategy," old-fashioned diplomacy by intelligent, informed individuals who understand the underlying inequities that spawn terror (as opposed to policy based on simplistic notions of good and evil) remains the best route to peace and security.
The only cogent and viable alternative is systemism, according to which everything is either a system or a component of a system, and every system has peculiar (emergent) properties that its components lack.
On the other hand, civility does not preclude substantive disagreements, vigorous advocacy of points of view, or cogent criticism of alternative perspectives.
In place of a sound argument a deductively valid argument with true premises Johnson and Blair posit an alternative ideal of a cogent argument, one whose premises are acceptable, relevant to and sufficient for its conclusion.
Of course, the critique is then raised, both by the political class and the conservative theological class, that having an informed ethical view is impossible because Christians and the church collectively do not have the professional or technical competence to offer cogent comment on the specific policy alternatives of the day.
Scientists frequently lament the scarcity of effective scientific communicators those who can explain complex concepts to the public, present scientifically sound alternatives to policy-makers, and make cogent arguments for the value of science to society.
