Institutions, Institutions, Institutions

One of Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson’s overarching theses in Why Nations Fail is that the success of a country is predicated on the inclusiveness of political and economic institutions (which in turn underline an equal rule and application of law). I think many Trump supporters will be upset about the stance taken by the senior administration official, but it’s important to remember that all of these officials (including the President) took an oath specifically to the Constitution and in turn to the precedent set over the last 200+ years. It generally seems best that government is slow to change. Consistency allows people and businesses to feel confident in the future and make investment in themselves and their communities accordingly.

Related reading:

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At one point I heard some pretty convincing arguments that Trump was pursuing a madman strategy like Richard Nixon did during the Vietnam War but I think my confidence in that theory falls more each news cycle.

Standing invitation (inspired by Patio11 who also has some good tips on how to approach this): if you want to talk about hard tech or systems, I want to talk to you.

My email is my full name at gmail.com.

• I read every email and will almost always reply.
• I like reading things you’ve written.
• I go to conferences to meet people like you.
• Meetings outside of conferences are tougher to fit with my schedule - let’s chat over email first. Specificity and being concise makes it easy for me to reply :)