Oooathmeal

The biggest mistake “good” people make is to see “goodness” and “power” as opposites. Two poles along one dimension. This is not correct. Yes, sure, the most powerful people in the world are evil. But this is not because goodness and power are opposites. It is because to become the best in the world at anything requires the optimization solely for that at the expense of everything else. Goodness and power can definitely conflict. And if you choose maximum power when they conflict, you will become evil. But because goodness and power are not opposites, their relationship is non linear. 100% power leads to 0% goodness, true. But 90% power does not lead to 10% goodness. It’s more like 90% goodness. A very small compromise in power leads to a very large increase in goodness. And a very small compromise in goodness leads to a very large increase in power. This is what happens to all politicians. No individual action is necessarily super evil. Signing a bill that moves things 0.1% in the wrong direction for a few mil is a hard choice to pass up. But this slowly chips away at their moral compass such that by the time they are fully powerful they are also fully evil. However this is not inherent to valuing power. It is only inherent to having power higher in one’s value hierarchy than goodness. If you simply put goodness as number one and power as number two, it’s entirely possible to get like 50% as much power for 99% as much goodness. You must optimize for both goodness and power, and then simply when they conflict, have goodness win out. This works because most of the time prioritizing goodness does not prevent power but simply delays it by building network and relationship. For example, extending your hand for a handshake is an act of vulnerability. It exposes you. You could take the lowest risk thing and simply kill your enemy instead. But this small offering of peace could lead to an alliance where you both now become twice or five times as powerful cooperating together. You have both done what is good and actually increased your power. Many if not most things are like this. To understand the necessity of power and to optimize for at it is itself good, as long as it sits below goodness in your value hierarchy. And furthermore, to spread goodness requires power. To make the good powerful is necessary to defeat evil. And until the good stop neglecting power entirely, power will continue to be a tool only for evil.

My message here clearly struck a nerve. A few friends from when I was press secretary, domestically and abroad, don’t like what I said. Instead of seeing how Western European nations must change, they just want to attack Trump. The reason it struck a nerve is because they recognize that this time NATO nations are being held to account. They know they’ve come up short for decades and by denying us overflight rights, they’ve gone too far. Americans are fed up, especially with France and Spain. Trump won’t stand for it and they know it. They now fear the consequences of their inaction. The UK, unlike its days under Thatcher or Blair, is wishy-washy. They’ve often been a good allie, but this time they want to sit it out and have it both ways. We can use their bases, but only for limited operations. At least the UK spends real money on defense. France, Spain, and Italy are another story. So too is Canada. None of these four contribute seriously to NATO. They’re laggards, trying to get away with it. Spain and France force our pilots to fly thousands of miles out of the way (I thought they didn’t like carbon footprints) en route to Iran. Eastern Europe is a different story. They spend more on defense and they understand power. They lived under Soviet domination and recognize weakness when they see it. They won’t be weak. Western European governments, especially France, are good at issuing communiques and statements. They enjoy hosting conferences. They love to ponder deeply. Getting them to act is another matter, unless it’s to purchase Russian LNG, which they still do. The world is changing. Out of this war will come a new group of younger nations that understand real power and the importance of strength. The UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Eastern Europe will emerge stronger than ever. Western Europe will continue to fall behind. As for Trump, you don’t have to like him. He often says things none of his predecessors would say. But don’t underestimate the fact that US taxpayers are fed up with nations that don’t pull their weight, and then force our pilots to take risks and longer flights so we can rid the world from the menace that is Iran. Today’s Western European leaders would rather mollify Iran and pay them ransoms (trade) than support the US. Things are different today. We all know it. The UK, France, Spain and Italy (despite its Prime Minister) have earned the consequences that will unfold. They could have and should have supported us. Not as a NATO alliance. But as individual free nations. All we wanted was overflight rights and full access to airfields. They’ve made their choices. Soon, they’ll see the results.

Lose all this to rescue 1 pilot and call it your greatest military success of all time.

Juries don't work because you changed the people Flying doesn't work because you changed the people Stores, schools, hospitals--they don't work because you changed the people You can't change the people and keep the system, the system was made for the people