Frank's Musings

Trump won re-election in 2024 because he captured the ultimate libertarian dream. In his mind and in the minds of seemingly most  Americans who cared to vote nothing is more important than devoting one’s short life to achieving a happy existence for oneself. The barriers to that goal may include what others have built similarly to succeed; but the barriers most despised by those who supported Trump are those built by agents who guide their lives in the interest of the community.

This philosophy is attractive to those who think their personal interests have been ignored, if not countermanded, by the elites who usually govern society. They believe that their personal well-being depends on directing their own lives. As Adam Smith is thought to have concluded, competition between self-directed actors will achieve a common good because their collective deeds are guided by an Invisible Hand.

Fortunately, one ultimate totalitarian government system.  Communism,  failed owing to the tyranny of central planning. And yet, to abandon the  common pursuit of equitable goals is to ignore the power of humanity’s greatest asset—critical thinking. Trump convinced a winning number of voters that they would never improve their individual condition if they sacrificed their concepts of their  personal welfare to benefit the common interest.  That is also what drives his slogan, MAGA, and likewise threatens to result in an end state of disorganized chaos, or entropy.