Really enjoyed this. I reckon I’d only add one observation on top, which is the constant human instinct to see and sort the world around us through a series of false binaries. If Hungary (and Trump) are indicative of nothing else, it’s that the two buckets of lawless autocracy and thriving democracy are insufficient at capturing reality. Reality is almost always more nuanced and contradictory than binaries can account for.
Thoughtfulness, rigorousness, and the taking of a wider view are all required to get at reality’s true nature and this piece is a great example of all three. 🫡
Thank you very much for your genuine feedback. Yes, we’ve too often been captured by Plato’s spell to figure out who should rule when we should be more concerned with retaining the ability to blame and remove them.
I’m trying my best to think about these problems the most effective way possible, and I appreciate you taking the time to do the same.
My pleasure. I think you’ve hit on something really important that gets overlooked. As an independent who has long felt both underrepresented and unprecedented, I dwell a lot on the notion that elections are rarely won in this country, rather they are almost always lost. The over interpretation of mandates that follows leads to the next round of punishing, etc. In my view, it could be better, but perhaps in keeping with your very important point, a failure to punish effectively would be far worse still. While much of our practice of self-governance leaves room for improvement, it seems to me we are handling the removal / punishment piece pretty dern well.
I wrote a note a few weeks back briefly looking at big picture strategic achievements (and failures) by China, Europe, Iran and the U.S. measure over decades. In the broadest, most oversimplified sense, it seemed to me both the relative outperformance and durable advantage for the U.S. come from course-correcting more willingly and completely than anybody else. It’s messy, it’s acrimonious, it occurs with fits and starts, but I see our willingness to “grill our own sacred cows”, as I put it, as pretty unique. In some sense, one wonders if we’ve seen a durable shift, at least for a time, away from two-term presidencies and I’m curious about how such a shift might lead to different advantages and disadvantages. I can see both.
In any event, your piece really got me thinking and reframing. That’s always a blessing and I’m grateful.
Love this: “it seemed to me both the relative outperformance and durable advantage for the U.S. come from course-correcting more willingly and completely than anybody else.”
Interesting. The shift from who should rule to whether a system can actually remove those in power is pretty useful. I think Trump is definitely trying to degrade the removal aspects but the responsibility part is still very much intact.
We gotta make sure the institutions do a better job of holding but they have so far done an okay job!
Really enjoyed this. I reckon I’d only add one observation on top, which is the constant human instinct to see and sort the world around us through a series of false binaries. If Hungary (and Trump) are indicative of nothing else, it’s that the two buckets of lawless autocracy and thriving democracy are insufficient at capturing reality. Reality is almost always more nuanced and contradictory than binaries can account for.
Thoughtfulness, rigorousness, and the taking of a wider view are all required to get at reality’s true nature and this piece is a great example of all three. 🫡
Thank you very much for your genuine feedback. Yes, we’ve too often been captured by Plato’s spell to figure out who should rule when we should be more concerned with retaining the ability to blame and remove them.
I’m trying my best to think about these problems the most effective way possible, and I appreciate you taking the time to do the same.
My pleasure. I think you’ve hit on something really important that gets overlooked. As an independent who has long felt both underrepresented and unprecedented, I dwell a lot on the notion that elections are rarely won in this country, rather they are almost always lost. The over interpretation of mandates that follows leads to the next round of punishing, etc. In my view, it could be better, but perhaps in keeping with your very important point, a failure to punish effectively would be far worse still. While much of our practice of self-governance leaves room for improvement, it seems to me we are handling the removal / punishment piece pretty dern well.
I wrote a note a few weeks back briefly looking at big picture strategic achievements (and failures) by China, Europe, Iran and the U.S. measure over decades. In the broadest, most oversimplified sense, it seemed to me both the relative outperformance and durable advantage for the U.S. come from course-correcting more willingly and completely than anybody else. It’s messy, it’s acrimonious, it occurs with fits and starts, but I see our willingness to “grill our own sacred cows”, as I put it, as pretty unique. In some sense, one wonders if we’ve seen a durable shift, at least for a time, away from two-term presidencies and I’m curious about how such a shift might lead to different advantages and disadvantages. I can see both.
In any event, your piece really got me thinking and reframing. That’s always a blessing and I’m grateful.
Love this: “it seemed to me both the relative outperformance and durable advantage for the U.S. come from course-correcting more willingly and completely than anybody else.”
Interesting. The shift from who should rule to whether a system can actually remove those in power is pretty useful. I think Trump is definitely trying to degrade the removal aspects but the responsibility part is still very much intact.
We gotta make sure the institutions do a better job of holding but they have so far done an okay job!