In A Silent Way / Miles Davis
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The Dictator’s Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith’s canonical book on political science turns conventional wisdom on its head. They start from a single proposition: leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they must. As Bueno de Mesquita and Smith show, democracy is essentially just a convenient fiction. Governments do not differ in kind, but only in the number of essential supporters or backs that need scratching. The size of this group determines almost everything about politics: what leaders can get away with and the quality of life or misery under them. And it is also the key to returning power to the people. (From Amazon)
In effect, the book The Dictator’s Handbook indirectly endorses the Trump administration at its lack of “backs that need scratching.” Whatever one thinks about Trump, one can’t argue that Trump has attracted followers to him rather than chasing them down and making it financially attractive to come aboard his administration. For the most part, most of his top people are already successful. So bribes are little incentive. Patriotism – not money or power – is their incentive.
As The Dictator’s Handbook notes, leaders do whatever keeps them in power. They don’t care about the “national interest”—or even their subjects—unless they must. There has never been a president who wanted to return power to the people as much as Trump.
The Dictator’s Handbook on Google Docs.
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NOTES
Carnegie Council interview with Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith.