Achieving Abundance and American State Capacity

[Dr Strangelove]

The Abundance Agenda: Fukuyama advocates for rebuilding American state capacity, specifically focusing on building public goods like housing and infrastructure to address affordability and maintenance deficits (0:15 - 0:58).
The Decline of State Capacity: He identifies a shift toward a "Jeffersonian" mindset since the 1960s, where government is viewed with suspicion, leading to excessive regulatory "procedure fetish" and an over-reliance on private contractors (1:04 - 2:03).
Moving Beyond Criticism: Fukuyama argues that to overcome the legacy of Donald Trump, the political opposition must offer a positive, proactive agenda rather than relying solely on criticism (2:04 - 2:54).
Hamiltonian Perspective: He suggests recapturing a "Hamiltonian" view—inspired by Alexander Hamilton—which sees a strong, effective government as a necessary force for progressive change and collective achievement (1:20 - 1:43).
Future Outlook: The author emphasizes that projects like space exploration (Artemis 2) should be viewed as collective national successes rather than the vanity projects of specific wealthy individuals, framing state capacity as a shared responsibility (3:15 - 3:45).


'shared responsibility' doing a LOT of work here. Frankly, it's long been everyone for themselves in the US and that is a rot that has taken down the US to isolationism and a pariah state. US wants to go it alone so let them.