Five Vintage MNY Posts
Atlantis on the Hudson // The Adams Imperative // Anti-politics meme // Concreteness // B-minus Politics Are Best
Note: class applications are currently open for The Foundations of New York City until April 15, and I have calendar bandwidth to accommodate some bootcamps this month.
Maximum New York started as a blog in October 2021, and I’m coming up on 200 total posts. So here are five posts from early MNY that I’m proud of. They show the early frame of my theory of political change.
1) Atlantis on the Hudson
It is possible for a city, state, or nation’s people to forget how to maintain the civic structures needed for a successful government. I later elaborated on this post with The Foundation Effect about two years later.
2) The Adams Imperative
Kind, smart, ambitious people must sometimes lay down some of their goals to serve the interests of their wider society. This is not wasting their talents that could otherwise be deployed in the private sector—that frame of mind misunderstands the world. There is no scenario that works like this: “Good talent goes into the private sector where it can be most productive, and the government magically maintains itself.” A healthy private sector is a function of a healthy government.
Government is a project that needs talent, just like the private sector. Good law is an achievement, just like sending rockets into space. In fact, good law is what enables the private sector to thrive. It is the fundamental substrate. It is one of the most productive uses of talent. That talent must be trained and used well though, and that is why I teach.
3) The Anti-Politics Meme
Politics means “social rule making.” It exists in any group of people of two or more (like Jesus??). There are office politics, friend-group politics, marital politics, and more. “Government politics” are special though, because the rules that government makes are called “laws.”
But when most people use the word “politics,” they use it as a synonym for “bad,” and this is a strong barrier to engaging with the field more deeply. Are you infected with the anti-politics meme? See what comes to your mind when you think “excellent politics.” If you struggle, or must make something up on the spot, you’re infected!
4) On Concreteness
Many people readily accept the idea that a field like industrial manufacturing must be technically robust. People really need to have a detailed grip on specific processes, facts of nature, and more.
Government is just as technical, but most people do not treat it that way. They even get mad if you do. But if we want a better politics, people must be more concrete.
5) B-minus Politics Are Best
Compromise is not a failure—it is the hallmark of the superb politician operating within constraints. The question is not whether you achieved the perfect outcome, but whether you rack up B-minus wins consistently and allow them to compound. Run for your life from the politician who promises an “A+” politics.
