走近凯斯•桑斯坦：奥巴马超级智囊揭秘

    保守派坚信，奥巴马总统为了坚持大政府主义，以最快的速度给企业施加了多道“紧箍咒”。米特•罗姆尼在竞选期间曾多次借此发起攻势，声称在过去四年，政府制定的规章数量翻了两番。这不符合事实：最近的统计数据表明，在任期的头42个月里，奥巴马批准的规章数略多于布什总统在第一个任期内批准的规章数，略少于布什总统在第二个任期内批准的规章数。

    但是现在，保守派对奥巴马的讨伐又有了新的口实，因为奥巴马在步入第二个任期之际已经明确表示，将通过监管命令实现自己的施政意图。国会山的反对党不能容忍。所以在这个时候，奥巴马的第一任监管一把手正应该站出来解释政府规章制度背后的哲学依据。凯斯•桑斯坦是奥巴马在芝加哥大学法学院（University of Chicago Law School）任教期间的朋友，过去四年里一直担任白宫信息与管制事务办公室（Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs，以下简称OIRA）主任。这个职位虽然职责模糊，但权力极大，无论是制定燃油效率标准、重新设计食物金字塔这样的小事，还是医疗改革、华尔街改革这样的大事，桑斯坦都能插上一脚。

    桑斯坦把他的办公室当成了试验田，用来试验他所推崇的“自由派家长主义”（libertarian paternalism）——“自由派家长主义”从字面上看有些自相矛盾，但却是通过特定的选择架构，引导人们做出对自己有利的明智之举，而不是仅凭一时冲动做出对自己有害的错误选择。（比方说一家超市要是想鼓励消费者养成健康的饮食习惯，就可以把水果和蔬菜摆在前排显眼的位置，把垃圾食品摆到后排的角落。）

    桑斯坦的理论依据是行为经济学。近几年，行为经济学颠覆了几个世纪以来的传统观念。传统观念认为，人是按照理性行事的。在不受任何约束的情况下，人会做对自己最有利的事情。行为经济学虽然已经有强有力的科学依据，但要把它运用到政策领域，还是会在某些方面引起争议。诋毁它的人纷纷把老大哥搬出来说事。格伦•贝克更是因此给桑斯坦扣上了帽子，说他是“美国最危险的人”。

    It's an article of faith among conservatives that President Obama scratches his itch for bigger government by imposing job-killing rules on businesses as fast as his administration can dream them up. Mitt Romney invoked it frequently on the campaign trial, asserting that regulations had quadrupled over the last four years. That's not true: Onerecent tally found that through the first 42 months of his term, Obama approved slightly more rules than President George W. Bush did in his second term and slightly fewer than in his first.

    But the charge is gaining renewed currency as Obama embarks on his second term with a declared intent to accomplish by regulatory fiat what the opposition on Capitol Hill won't allow. So it's an auspicious moment for Obama's first-term regulatory czar to drop his latest attempt at explaining the philosophy behind that rulemaking. Cass Sunstein, a friend of Obama's from his University of Chicago Law School days, spent the last four years running the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). It's an obscure but exceedingly powerful perch that enabled Sunstein to put his imprint on everything from fuel efficiency standards and the redesign of the food pyramid to the rules for the landmark health care and Wall Street overhauls.

    Sunstein used his office as a laboratory for his brand of "libertarian paternalism" -- his self-described and seemingly paradoxical approach to structuring prompts for people that promote their welfare by protecting them from their more self-destructive impulses. (Think of a supermarket that encourages healthy eating by displaying fruits and vegetables in the front of the store while relegating junk food to the back.)

    Sunstein's approach is built on behavioral economics, which in recent years has upended centuries of belief that individuals are rational actors who will act in their own best interest left to their own devices. The science behind behavioral economics is largely established, but applying it in the policy realm remains controversial in some quarters. Detractors conjure Big Brother, a specter that inspired Glenn Beck to label Sunstein "the most dangerous man in America."