Ephemeris of the Mind (Book Review) The Fifth Risk: Undoing Democracy
Time to read: 2 min read
Book Cover
It’s what you fail to imagine that kills you.
Past Michael Lewis reviews:
Review
Lewis details Trump’s botched transition (or lack thereof) in taking over the vital government agencies, namely the departments of Energy, Agriculture, and Commerce. Lewis explains the important functions of each department and contrasts the Trump transition team with that of Obama.
It was incredibly eye-opening to actually read about the important responsibilities of each department, such as DOE’s purview over the US nuclear arsenal, USDA’s involvement in the economy of rural communities, and the Department of Commerce’s responsibilities in providing weather data. While Lewis focuses solely on the positives of and showers unapologetic admiration upon the bureaucracy, I do believe more citizens ought to be more aware of what exactly the responsibilities of their governments are. It’s a shame that such knowledge is not widely known and that the agencies themselves have strict limitations on how they can communicate with the public. Perhaps a nonpartisan campaign on educating the citizenry about how their government actually works is a good idea for most countries, especially if they hope to attract more talented individuals into public service.
It was also interesting to read the narrative as it reinforces the idea of a deep state, not the QAnon conspiracy definition, but the idea of government bureaucracies which are basically permanent and largely immune from outside influence. There were many interesting opinions from experts, both from within the governmental bureaucracy, such as John MacWilliams the former chief risk officer of the DOE, and from within private industry, such as David Friedberg, an entrepreneur (and co-host to one of the podcasts I’m listening to).
Lewis brings his characteristic witty writing style in detailing all the blunders the Trump team made, which again reinforced for me that Trump wasn’t prepared for the transition because he probably didn’t expect to win.
Conclusion
Interesting look at the inner workings of the US government.