Input Guarantees Outcome?

I recently encountered a statement that I thought an interesting illustration of logic differences that lead to some of our conflicts about getting to the best solutions. The statement had to do with the potential electoral contest between President Biden and former President Trump. But this post is not about that electoral contest. This post is about the logic behind the statement.

The statement was that Biden is obviously in better health than is Trump, and thus more suited to be elected, because Biden eats better than Trump does (noting Trump’s fondness for fast food hamburgers, French fries, and diet sodas); we see Biden exercising while we see no evidence that Trump engages in physical exercise; and Biden is relatively thin while Trump is visibly overweight.

The logic I heard behind this statement was that the outcome (health) must be better when the inputs (food, exercise) are better. [I did also note that the person making the statement said nothing explicit about mental health, I presume expecting me to equate mental health with physical health.]

This logic seems to drive a lot of liberal or progressive thinking. “If we apply the correct inputs, the outcomes must be better.” Stated another way, “The outcomes must be correct because we used correct inputs.” We see this logic play out in so many ways, and hear it argued in various forms. Liberals assert that their policies, processes, and efforts must be correct and produce the correct outcomes because their intentions are good and the inputs are designed to produce the correct outcome. That logic seems to override observing actual outcomes.

Several years ago after a ministry seeking financial support presented their objectives and efforts, our church’s mission committee asked about their outcomes. They were visibly astonished that anyone asked about actual outcomes, and said that was the first time anyone had asked.

Many people have over the years commented on the differences that result from liberals’ belief that intentions matter more than results, inputs matter more than outcomes, but I found the particular example of Biden’s and Trump’s health a curious example. I am not ready to accept that Biden must be in better health than Trump because Biden has better lifestyle inputs, when so much evidence of the actual outcome points to a different answer.