Congressman Hakeem Jeffries has been chosen to lead the House Democrats in 2023. In his acceptance speech, commenting on the big tent nature of the Democratic Party, he expressed confidence that it could come together by finding the “highest common denominator” in its membership.
What is the highest common denominator? Take the example of adding three fractions: 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/5. To do this we need to change the fractions so they have a common denominator. To do this, common practice is to find the lowest number that each of the denominators divide into evenly, otherwise known as the lowest common denominator. In this case the number is 30. 1/2 can be translated to 15/30; 1/3 to 10/30; and 1/5 to 6/30. The total is found by adding the numerators and the result is 31/30. Normally we would then rewrite this as 1 1/30. But what happened to the highest common denominator? Sixty is higher and common. But ninety is even higher and is also common. In fact, you can keep going with multiples of 30 forever. Essentially this means that the highest common denominator can never be found.
But this is politics in America and, as is the case here, particularly the problem of Democrats. This is what happens when the object is to sound good at the cost of making any sort of sense. – E.O.
Recent Comments