Paradigms Lost- Guest Post

Welcome again Doug to my blog. He sent me a post, wondering if I would be interested, and I was. I'm not a political person, but it's hard to avoid politics right now. I did vote - I always do - but not for either of the Big 2 candidates. That said, when Trump won, I turned to the First Reader and commented that the next few years were going to be very interesting. So far, that seems to be true, at least. Whether it will just settle back into 'business as usual' in politics remains to be seen. I for one hope to see shaking up, as I have never been a fan of Big Gov't and I know that Pournelle's Iron Law holds horribly true. As I said... pass the popcorn. Let's see what happens. 

Written by Doug Irvin

A paradigm is a system of viewing reality. Regardless of facts, your appreciation of them depends on how you view those facts. Without the proper viewpoint, you won't even see what's in front of you. This used to be called the Black Swan Fallacy. In fact, a similar example is told concerning Thomas Jefferson, when told a meteorite had landed in Connecticut:  "I would more easily believe that (a) Yankee professor would lie than that stones would fall from heaven." Yet black swans do exist. And stones do fall from the heavens. I bring this up because a severe case of what is known as Paradigm Paralysis has overtaken the political scene. Paradigm paralysis occurs when you cannot recognize nor accept a change even when it happens in front of your eyes. This particular paralysis is occurring because a non politician has been elected to the highest office in our land. Donald Trump is, first and foremost, a business man. The motivations and drives of a successful business owner - and regardless of official stories to the contrary, Trump is a very successful entrepreneur - are different than those of a political animal In politics the emphasis is on appeasement, compromise and hidden agendas. Not so in business. A business venture succeeds when a) one side completely overpowers another, or b) reaches a win/win situation. The latter is not to be confused with a compromise. A compromise is seldom expressed as a positive; more likely "I can live without this, and you can live without that. Neither of us gets what we want, but it's acceptable. Win/win is more "I want this, you want that. We can do thus, which gives each of us what we want, plus a little extra." It's expressed as a positive. The mistake the political class makes is always expecting President Trump to act like a politician. He's not going to do that, even if some of his advisors recommend he do so. They are blinded by a new paradigm, and they are paralyzed in dealing with him because, frankly, most of them have never even operated a lemonade stand. They've never had a bottom line, never had to make payroll. In fact, to them a lack of funding always calls for higher taxes Politicians want to take more money from citizens. Businessmen want to get more people to buy their product, and buy again. And the American people, by and large, understand Trumps reasoning better, because they know, from the gut, that you can't keep spending without a means to increase production. And that's why Donald Trump is going to be a successful president, assuming the political class does not have him assassinated. Unfortunately, that IS one of their fall back ploys. Meanwhile, a horse race is running, and an eagle has entered as a entrant. If you keep betting on the bobtailed nag, you're gonna lose big when the eagle soars past the finish line half a course ahead of the horses. Face it. That paradigm is lost.