Moral Philosophy and the Leopard Face-Eating Problem

Today’s Secret pod is a super-sized instant classic. I don’t even know how to sell it except to tell you that it’s titled “The Ballad of Barry Zuckercorn.” It’ll be out soon.

Also: We’re going to talk about fired government workers today. Sam had a great conversation with one of them here. We’ve set up a secure tipline; if you’re caught up in this insanity and want to blow the whistle or share your story, get in touch with us through this portal.

1. Bad JVL

Meet Robert McCabe, a Philadelphia area man who, until 25 hours ago, worked for the IRS:

One of the laid off IRS employees, Robert McCabe, told NBC10 he went into work on Thursday and had issues logging in. He and his coworker sat around and waited for instructions. He then received the layoff letter shortly before 11:30 a.m. McCabe said he had been a supporter of President Trump prior to the layoff.

“You know when he talks about government waste and all that, yes, I’m behind it,” McCabe said. “I believe there is a lot of stuff in the government that needs fixing. And that’s part of the reason why I actually wanted to work for the government, actually. To help change. Help change the things that are wrong in the world, you know? I thought that someone with his business acumen would have come in with a fine-tooth comb and actually found it instead of coming in with a wrecking ball and destroying people’s lives for no reason.”

What are we supposed to do with the Robert McCabes of the world? There are plenty of stories burbling up right now about Trump voters experiencing regrets, or thinking they were fooled—but McCabe is a separate category.

The McCabe category is truly a Leopard Face-Eating situation where he is shocked that his life got destroyed and he thinks that it must be some mistake or oversight. How are we supposed to react to that?

Let’s work through this problem together...