John H. Noble, Jr.
Endowed Professor for Social Justice
National Catholic School of Social Service
The Catholic University of America
Washington, DC 20064

Telephone Numbers: 202-319-5461 (O)
703-425-2120 (Fairfax, VA)
410-827-6365 (Kent Island, MD)

E-mail: jnoble4@cox.net

The policy analyst, like the sea lion, must be swift, agile and tenacious to grasp the slippery and elusive products of politics and politicians--and, most important, be ever mindful of H.L. Menchen's wry observation, "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong."
We should also remember L. Wittgenstein's explanation in Philosophical Investigations, para. 101,
for why we are captivated by simple solutions:

The idea now absorbs us, that the ideal "must" be found in reality. Meanwhile we do not as yet see how this occurs there, nor do we understand the nature of this "must". We think it must be in reality; for we think we already see it there.