I see some common threads running through the pieces I have been reading today. The first is that I don’t see proper consideration being given to the possibility that there are some people who want to wield power over others not as a means to an end but as an end in itself. That is not original to me. It has been said by philosophers and psychologists over centuries.
The second is just how devoid of pragmatic considerations so much of the policy discussions are. It is an increasing Aristotelian world. Things are right or wrong, black or white, good or evil. There is insufficient consideration to whether the policies being proposed are effective or ineffective.
Update
I neglected to mention the third common thread I’m seeing: everything is being viewed through the prism of domestic politics. Does it help Trump/Biden or hurt? Republicans or Democrats? The actual value of policies gets short shrift.
“there are some people who want to wield power over others not as a means to an end but as an end in itself. ”
I think it’s a continuum. There are people on either end of the curve(s) with not that money people at either end. I dont think there are many people who accumulate power and never use it. I think there are some who prioritize authority over personal monetary gain but even those people somehow end up doing pretty well financially.
Steve
In my own case I am strongly averse to being a controller or the controlled. I have the personality tests to prove it. Given only the alternatives of being the boss or the bossed, I choose the former.
But there are a significant number of issues in which controlling people has clearly become an end in itself.