A Reading List for the Trump Era
If you have been hired to work in the new administration...
...please read "On Liberty", by John Stuart Mill. More than 150 years ago, Mill applied the idea of individual liberty to the question of the role of government. In any administration -- but most certainly in this one -- the people who do the work of government need to know exactly the origins of their authority to act.
Essential quote:
"That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others."
If you're a member of the media...
...please read "The Commanding Heights", by Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw. It is a portrait of the enormous battle of philosophies and ideas that underpinned the entire Cold War. By any reasonable standard, that clash of civilizations only went dormant for a while and is now back with a vengeance. Read this book to understand how globalization came about (and how it really works), and to understand how politics and economics are the conjoined twins that decide the future. Globalization didn't happen overnight, and resentment of it didn't, either. There are generational-scale, epochal powers at play.
If you're a disappointed Democrat...
...please read "Conscience of a Conservative", by Barry Goldwater. No, really. Goldwater largely gets a caricaturized treatment in the modern world, but he put his name to a philosophy of the relationship between the citizen and government that was far out of favor at the time -- but that ended up with a massive influence on politics less than a generation later. Goldwater put ideas into the political current. In the coming years, we will need lots of them, and from all sides.
Essential quote:
"Thus, for the American Conservative, there is no difficulty in identifying the day's overriding political challenge: it is to preserve and extend freedom."
If you're a Republican who doesn't like the direction the party has taken...
...please read "In Defence of Freedom", by Margaret Thatcher. The full magnitude of what Thatcher did is lost on most Americans. She reformed the ideology of Britain's Conservative Party in less than a decade, crystallized the party's message, and won control of government -- and kept it for one of the longest periods of service of any Prime Minister. The Republican Party already needs an ideological reboot after the damage done to it by President Trump, and there's no telling how much damage will be done before he's through. The clarity of Thatcher's conservative message should be a model for a renewed Republican vision.
If you are concerned about the same economic anxieties that Trump's candidacy tapped into...
...please read "Capitalism and Freedom", by Milton Friedman. The pain felt in many places is real, but Trump's supposed answers -- tariffs, trade protectionism, immigration cuts, and economic nationalism -- will only make matters worse. Nobody understood the power of the market economy better than Milton Friedman. He did not think government should be tossed aside, but he had a clear vision for what role it should play. His uncanny ability to put complex economic thought into sensible, plain language was only one of his gifts. If you want a better economy, start by understanding how it works.