Good Political Leaders
by
, 01-03-2017 at 06:04 PM (1481 Views)
There is a lot more ambition in politics than intelligence or good sense. This isn’t just a modern problem, but the ancients were also afflicted by politicians with big egos and small brains. That combination tends to lead to people thinking that their preferences are actually best for everyone, without realizing that personal preferences are just that, personal and preferences. Just as different people prefer different foods so it is with politics. And I’m not referring to the great divide between democrats and monarchs, because we all know that monarchy is superior, unless there is an inferior monarch in power, and that is an easy situation to correct. I am referring to the policies that make real differences: taxes and spending.
We all know that it is impossible to make everyone happy with tax policy, but we should try to harm everyone no more than anyone else, and that means that taxation should be fair, even if everyone is not treated exactly the same, there should be no giveaways to one’s known supporters. There should be no giveaways to anyone, because that’s how governments lose money. Taxes are necessary, and our friends have to be taxed as much as our enemies. That is very important, because it creates the illusion that everyone is treated the same. Keeping that illusion in place is important, because when it disappears the government or even the whole country can disappear.
Perhaps I should have reread Discourses on the First Ten Books of Titus Livius by Nicolo Machiavelli to prepare for this, because Nicolo was interested in creating good government. He just wrote The Prince in the hope of landing a new job advising some prince or duke. Here in the U.S.A. there have been people who truly wanted good government, but I think that few such people still exist; most people are out for the best deal they can find. And many people aren't even good at making their preferences seem good for many people.
At this point we are going into the Trump administration, and Trump may be the stupidest person ever elected president; although there have been a few who were more corrupt. He may even be so stupid that the thinks that he will get away with robbing the country. But it might also be that he isn't stupid, just so ill-educated that he doesn't understand the U.S. government. Apparently, Trump thinks that the president rules by edict, and Congress and elections exist purely for show. Obama tried that, but the courts quickly pointed out how limited his office was.
We will have to wait and see how long it will take Trump to learn that he bought an office that can't much more than empty wastebaskets without the advice and consent of Congress or the Senate at least. How long will it take Trump to learn that he bought an office that is almost completely useless, and more importantly, how long will it take Putin to learn that he wasted his money?
For the answers to these and other questions we will have to wait. And the waiting may take more than a year, because of how legal actions take time to happen. But I think that Trump will have become bored without his office before the end of the term, and he will have discovered that he can't put the country into bankruptcy and skim off all of the cash when he recapitalizes. I wonder if that's what Putin wants him to do. If the U.S. government were under the same bankruptcy laws as individuals, then recapitalization would generate enormous fees. We will have to wait and see how he will pull money out of the government.