Why Do People Commit the Nirvana Fallacy?

I’m reminded of an exchange in first-year property class during law school concerning rent control. The issue on the floor was whether rent control would improve or diminish conditions given the fact that typically at the time rent control is instituted in a municipality, there isn’t enough adequate housing at reasonable prices for people to live with dignity and within their economic means. A student (not me) complained that it shouldn’t be the case that there wasn’t enough adequate housing at reasonable prices for people to live with dignity and within their economic means. This guy simply didn’t understand that there simply wasn’t enough adequate housing at reasonable prices for people to live with dignity and within their economic means and his solution to that dilemma was that there really, really ought to be enough adequate housing at reasonable prices for people to live with dignity and within their economic means.

Transplanted Lawyer, Comment on "The Terran Federation Needs YOU! (To Work As A Farmhand In A Chinese Rice Paddy)" by Patrick