Leadership Quote by John McCarthy

McCarthy’s line isn’t really a defense of stubbornness; it’s a defense of discipline. “Never abandon” sounds absolutist, even combative, but the second half tightens the leash: you don’t get to throw out an explanation just because it’s unfashionable, inconvenient, or politically costly. You replace it only when you can do better. The sentence is built like a rule of evidence in a world that runs on vibes.

The intent is pragmatic and strategic. In politics, “new” ideas often function as rebrands, not improvements. This quote tries to impose a higher bar: novelty must outperform the incumbent theory, not merely criticize it. That framing smuggles in a worldview where explanations are tools, judged by coverage and predictive power rather than moral satisfaction. “Explains something” acknowledges the minimum virtue of an existing framework: it works, at least partially. “Explains more” raises the standard to expansion, not demolition.

The subtext is a warning about the seductive theater of contrarianism. Public debate rewards takedowns, not replacements. It’s easy to puncture a model by pointing at anomalies; it’s harder to build a better one that accounts for the old successes plus the new data. McCarthy is staking out a conservative posture toward knowledge: progress happens by superseding, not scorning.

Contextually, it reads like a rebuttal to ideological whiplash and policy churn. Systems fail, exceptions pile up, scandals erupt; the temptation is to declare the entire underlying theory rotten. McCarthy’s rule insists that legitimacy comes from explanatory surplus: if you want to overturn the map, bring a better map, not just a louder critique.