A few observations today, maybe because too much coffee and too little whisky:

Congress Shuts Down the Government But Keeps Paying Itself. I know there are Constitutional arguments for why Congresspeople keep receiving their salaries even when they’ve shut down the government. Regardless, the fact that these clowns continue to get paid while denying other federal employees tells you so much about the giant racket we’re all enduring.

Citizens United, and Money = Speech. It’s odd that Citizens United decreed that using money to buy a politician is 1st Amendment free speech, while using money to buy a prostitute remains illegal. Especially because these are essentially the same thing.

What’s Right With A Thing vs What’s Wrong With It. It’s generally an oversimplification to say, “There are two kinds of people in the world” (unless you follow it with, “…The kind that thinks there are two kinds of people in the world, and everyone else.”

That said, over the years I’ve noticed two distinct categories: people who hear a position and start by focusing on what’s right about it; and people who hear a position and start by focusing on what’s wrong about it.

To make an argument sound, you obviously need both—you wouldn’t want to take a boat out to see before it’s been rigorously pressure-checked. But in my experience, you get better overall results by first building on what’s right, and then shaping by examining what’s wrong.

It’s not clear to me whether Twitter attracts people who are already inclined to reflexively start with what they see as wrong, or whether something about the medium enhances that existing tendency. Probably a combination. Regardless, I think one way to use Twitter more productively is to be aware both of one’s own tendencies and of the tendencies of the medium, and consciously correct.

Power to Dominate vs Power to Prevent Dominance. I think it’s axiomatic that all humans seek power. But I don’t think the reason for the desire is always the same. There are people who seek power because they want to exercise it over others. And there are people who seek power because they want to prevent others from exercising it over them.

What’s true among individuals is probably true too among nation states. America, for example, is clearly driven by a desire to gather power in pursuit of dominance. While China seems more interested in gathering power to prevent itself from being dominated.

Of course it’s also true that power corrupts, and maybe if China ever acquires enough power to dominate the world the way post-Cold War America did, China will behave in similar ways. But I also don’t think China wants or feels it needs that much power. It takes more power to dominate than to avoid being dominated, in part because, as the saying goes, “A bully doesn’t want to fight you. He just wants to beat you up.” So if your baseline desire is to avoid being dominated, there’s a better chance you’ll be satisfied with enough power, rather than all of it.

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