A belief in Governance
Any human society will require institutions of governance to help coordinate the actions of teams and individuals towards a valuable common end.
Quotations
“Balance is Required to Maintain Democracy”
Our current lack of respect for the swing can be likened to the current state of our democracy. Balance is required to maintain something as delicate as democracy, a subtle understanding of how your power can be magnified through joining with and sharing the power of another person. When that is no longer understood, it becomes a battle to see who is the strongest, who is the loudest, who can get the most attention.
Wynton Marsalis, from the book Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life, 2008, © Wynton Marsalis Enterprises
“The best thing we can do is treat each other better”
But the point is, I guess, that my politics has always been premised on the notion that the differences we have on this planet are real. They’re profound. And they cause enormous tragedy as well as joy. But we’re just a bunch of humans with doubts and confusion. We do the best we can. And the best thing we can do is treat each other better because we’re all we’ve got.
Barack Obama, from the podcast “The Ezra Klein Show”, 1 June 2021, © The New York Times Company
“A Completely Free Market”
In a completely free market, unsupervised by kings and priests, avaricious capitalists can establish monopolies or collude against their workforces. If there is a single corporation controlling all shoe factories in a country, or if all factory owners conspire to reduce wages simultaneously, then the labourers are no longer able to protect themselves by switching jobs.
Yuval Noah Harari, from the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2015, © Yuval Noah Harari
“Conservatives and Progressives”
The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types – the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.
G. K. Chesterton, from Illustrated London News, 1924
“Democracy is Worst Form of Government”
Democracy is the worst form of government… except for all those others that have been tried.
“Every Body cries, a Union is absolutely necessary”
Every Body cries, a Union is absolutely necessary, but when they come to the Manner and Form of the Union, their weak Noddles are perfectly distracted.
Benjamin Franklin, from The Writings of Benjamin Franklin, 29 December 1754
“Good Management is Like The Beatles”
My model of management is the Beatles. The reason I say that is because each of the key people in the Beatles kept the others from going off in the directions of their bad tendencies.
They sort of kept each other in check. And then when they split up, they never did anything as good. It was the chemistry of a small group of people, and that chemistry was greater than the sum of the parts.
Steve Jobs, from the interview “Brent Schlender's Conversations with Steve Jobs”, October, 2004, © Mansueto Ventures
“Governance is essential”
The simple maps of idealized markets leave out many real-world details that must be dealt with in order for the market to actually function properly. Governance is essential.
Tim O'Reilly, from the book WTF: What's the Future and Why It's Up To Us, 1968, © Timothy F. O'Reilly
“Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship”
Government has a final responsibility for the well-being of its citizenship. If private cooperative endeavor fails to provide work for willing hands and relief for the unfortunate, those suffering hardship from no fault of their own have a right to call upon the Government for aid; and a government worthy of its name must make fitting response
Franklin D. Roosevelt, from the speech “State of the Union 1938”, 3 Jan 1938
“Governments losing their ability to anticipate events”
Governments of all types – democratic and authoritarian, small states and superpowers – are losing their ability to anticipate events. They are thus losing the means to shape them. The days when national leaders could peer around the corner and head off coming dangers are receding. The best foreigh policy is conducted by calm minds in possession of the facts – and shielded from the pressure to broadcast instant moral absolutes. The more time leaders have to weigh up their options the likelier they are to choose the right ones. The speed of technological change is working against them.
Edward Luce, from the book The Retreat of Western Liberalism, 2017, © Edward Luce
“The great primeval contract of eternal society”
Society… is a partnership in all science; a partnership in all art; a partnership in every virtue, and in all perfection. As the ends of such a partnership cannot be obtained in many generations, it becomes a partnership not only between those who are living, but between those who are living, those who are dead, and those who are to be born. Each contract of each particular State is but a clause in the great primeval contract of eternal society, linking the lower with the higher natures, connecting the visible and invisible world, according to a fixed compact sanctioned by the inviolable oath whith holds all physical and all moral natures, each in their appointed place.
Edmund Burke, from the book Reflections on the Revolution in France, 1790
“Ignorant and Free”
If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.
Thomas Jefferson, from the letter “To Colonel Charles Yancey”, Jan 6, 1816
“Immigration is tough, and it always has been”
Immigration is tough. It always has been because, on the one hand, I think we are naturally a people that wants to help others. And we see tragedy and hardship and families that are desperately trying to get here so that their kids are safe, and they’re in some cases fleeing violence or catastrophe. At the same time, we’re a nation state. We have borders. The idea that we can just have open borders is something that … as a practical matter, is unsustainable.
Barack Obama, from ABC News Interview with Barack Obama on 18 Sep 2021, 2021-09-18
“Invest in your employees”
I give them [other business owners] the same advice my grandfather had when he was starting the business [Dick’s Drive-Ins]. A business, first step, is it has to make a profit. The next step is to invest in your employees. They’ll take better care of your customers, which will help you earn more profit. When they move on from your business and do other things, they’re evangelists for your company and that helps you make more profit. Once that virtuous cycle is going, you can also invest in your community because if your community is thriving, your business will thrive. And so for these businesses that come to us asking what they should do first, the biggest thing I tell them is to talk to your employees. Ask them what it is that your employee population would want. Talk to them! Start with that. And if you can’t do it for everybody or everything that they would want, just do some part of it, then work your way up from there.
Jasmine Donovan, from the interview “How does Dick’s Drive-In pay workers $19 an hour with a menu completely under $5?”, 5 Oct 2021
“Labor is the Superior of Capital”
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.
Abraham Lincoln, from the speech “Speech to Congress”, Dec. 3, 1861
“The legitimate object of government”
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves – in their separate, and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere. The desirable things which the individuals of a people can not do, or can not well do, for themselves, fall into two classes: those which have relation to wrongs, and those which have not. Each of these branch off into an infinite variety of subdivisions. The first – that in relation to wrongs – embraces all crimes, misdemeanors, and nonperformance of contracts. The other embraces all which, in its nature, and without wrong, requires combined action, as public roads and highways, public schools, charities, pauperism, orphanage, estates of the deceased, and the machinery of government itself. From this it appears that if all men were just, there still would be some, though not so much, need for government.
Abraham Lincoln, from the article “Fragment on Government”, 1854
“Liberalism is not Socialism”
Liberalism is not Socialism, and never will be. There is a great gulf fixed. It is not a gulf of method, it is a gulf of principle. … Socialism seeks to pull down wealth. Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests; Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference … Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capital; Liberalism attacks monopoly.
“Life is a series of daring adventures from a secure base”
Human development research offers a different formula: All of life is a series of daring adventures from a secure base. If government can create a framework in which people grow up amid healthy families, nurturing schools, thick communities and a secure safety net, then they will have the resources and audacity to thrive in a free global economy and a diversifying skills economy.
David Brooks, from the essay “Trumpism at Its Best, Straight Up”, 03/03/2017, © The New York Times Company
“Living with the strains of complexity”
Political society wants things simple. Political scientists know them to be complex… One could argue that, in part, the leftist impulse is so conspicuous among the educated and well-to-do precisely because they are exposed to more information, and are accordingly forced to choose between living with the strains of complexity, or lapsing into simplism.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, from the book The Schism in Black America, 1972
“No Perfect Answer”
The higher up you go in politics – but I think this is true of any organization – the more you will be confronted with challenges, problems, issues that do not yield a perfect answer.
Barack Obama, from the interview “Dare to Lead podcast”, 7 Dec 2020, © Brené Brown Education and Research Group, LLC
“Nordic societies have simply taken the job of government seriously”
Overall the secret to Nordic success is not complicated. Nordic societies have simply taken the job of government seriously. They make mistakes and have their troubles, but they keep tweaking their systems in search of improvements, and they work hard to balance the books. They prove that there is nothing inherent in government that automatically makes it less efficient for arranging social services than the private sector.
Anu Partanen, from the book The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life, 2016
“Our political system is not equipped to deliver solutions”
Now, a democracy where it’s nearly impossible to move legislation is bad for everyone. But it’s uniquely bad for progressives. We actually want to change things. We urgently need to change things. Our societal problems – climate change, health care, gun violence, economic and racial inequity – are getting worse every day. Our political system is not equipped to deliver solutions – in fact, it’s equipped to block them. And every election, the gap between what our politicians promise and what they’re able to deliver widens – and faith in our system gets a little weaker.
Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, from the book We Are Indivisible, 2019, © Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin
“The people are what matter to government”
The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to give all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life.
“Preparing Managers to Manage”
The time has come to recognize that higher education in management rests on a fatal fallacy. The idea behind the contemporary business school is that preparing future business managers means training them in a discipline called Business Management. After 100 years of fruitless attempts to produce such a discipline, it should be clear that it does not exist. Preparing managers to manage, in fact, is not different from preparing people to live in a civilized world. Managers do not need to be trained; they need to be educated. And for that purpose, although a certain amount of study of business-related subjects may prove useful, the business schools as they are presently constituted are at best superfluous.
Matthew Stewart, from the book The Management Myth: Why the Experts Keep Getting it Wrong, 2009, © Matthew Stewart
“The producing of good citizens”
For they have no conception of the duty of government who wish to limit it to the settling of disputes over money or the punishment of criminals. On the contrary, it is much more important for the magistrates to devote their energy to the producing of good citizens than to the punishment and restraint of evildoers. How much less need would there be to punish, if these matters were rightly looked after beforehand!
Juan Louis Vives, from the book Concerning the Relief of the Poor, 1526
“A reactionary conservative party”
An unholy alliance between wealthy plutocrats, practitioners of white identity politics, and religious ideologues has produced a reactionary conservative party — and they’re systematically rigging the rules to keep themselves in power.
Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, from the book We Are Indivisible, 2019, © Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin
“Responsible Nationalism”
Lawrence Summers complained of ‘the development of stateless elites whose allegiance is to global economic success and their own prosperity rather than the interests of the nation where they are headquartered’. By 2016, he was warning that the public’s tolerance for expert solutions ‘appears to have been exhausted’. He advised a new ‘responsible nationalism’, which would ‘begin from the idea that the basic responsibility of government is to maximize the welfare of its citizens, not to pursue some abstract concept of the global good’. The global elites, in other words, need to catch up with how most people view the world – not the other way round.
Edward Luce, from the book The Retreat of Western Liberalism, 2017, © Edward Luce
“Socialism is their name for anything that helps the people”
Socialism is a scareword they have hurled at every advance the people have made in the last 20 years. Socialism is what they called public power. Socialism is what they called Social Security. Socialism is what they called farm price supports. Socialism is what they called bank deposit insurance. Socialism is what they called the growth of free and independent labor organiztions. Socialism is their name for almost anything that helps all the people.
Harry S. Truman, from the speech “Campaign Speech”, 10 Oct 1952
“Stakeholder Capitalism”
The job of management is to maintain an equitable and working balance among the claims of the various directly affected interest groups… stockholders, employees, customers and the public at large.
“Taking a Fence Down”
In the matter of reforming things, as distinct from deforming them, there is one plain and simple principle; a principle which will probably be called a paradox. There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away. To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.
G. K. Chesterton, from the book The Thing, 1929
“To build a new and vital commons sector”
The great task of the twenty-first century is to build a new and vital commons sector that can resist enclosure and externalization by the market, protect the planet, and share the fruits of our common inheritances more equitably than is now the case.
“Trust in the Future”
But in its extreme form, belief in the free market is as naïve as belief in Santa Claus. There simply is no such thing as a market free of all political bias. The most important economic resource is trust in the future, and this resource is constantly threatened by thieves and charlatans. Markets by themselves offer no protection against fraud, theft and violence. It is the job of political systems to ensure trust by legislating sanctions against cheats and to establish and support police forces, courts and jails which will enforce the law. When kings fail to do their jobs and regulate the markets properly, it leads to loss of trust, dwindling credit and economic depression.
Yuval Noah Harari, from the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2015, © Yuval Noah Harari
“Two ideas of government”
There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that you just legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.
William Jennings Bryan, from the speech “Democratic National Convention”, 1896
“We need governments to provide clear pathways”
Capitalism has the power to shape society and act as a powerful catalyst for change. But businesses can’t do this alone, and they cannot be the climate police. That will not be a good outcome for society. We need governments to provide clear pathways and a consistent taxonomy for sustainability policy, regulation, and disclosure across markets. When we harness the power of both the public and private sectors, we can achieve truly incredible things. This is what we must do to get to net zero.
Larry Fink, from the letter “Letter to CEOs from Larry Fink in 2022”, 2022
“When Growth Becomes a Supreme Good”
This is the fly in the ointment of free-market capitalism. It cannot ensure that profits are gained in a fair way, or distributed in a fair manner. On the contrary, the craving to increase profits and production blinds people to anything that might stand in the way. When growth becomes a supreme good, unrestricted by any other ethical considerations, it can easily lead to catastrophe.
Yuval Noah Harari, from the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2015, © Yuval Noah Harari
“The World Empire enforces World Peace”
Most countries no longer engage in full-scale war for the simple reason that they are no longer independent. Though citizens in Israel, Italy, Mexico or Thailand may harbour illusions of independence, the fact is that their governments cannot conduct independent economic or foreign policies, and they are certainly incapable of initiating and conducting full-scale war on their own. As explained in Chapter 11, we are witnessing the formation of a global empire. Like previous empires, this one, too, enforces peace within its borders. And since its borders cover the entire globe, the World Empire effectively enforces world peace.
Yuval Noah Harari, from the book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, 2015, © Yuval Noah Harari