I think knee-jerk reactions are what we've evolved to favor, actually. When confronted with a large carnivore, survival and reproduction went to the primates who immediately decided to "run!" or "attack!", and almost never went to the primates who asked themselves, "what are the long-term consequences to the environment of my possible actions?"

Of course, now that we've pretty much solved the immediate-survival problem, the hardest part of the job is getting people to understand that we need them to step outside of the short-term. Add the fact that most political parties and special interests have figured out that they need to keep people *in* the short-term, and "sober minded realists" of every stripe are kind of screwed.