One of the complexities in politics is that there are multiple decisions that seem useful in the short-term but erode long-term value.

Being able to appreciate that long-term value and its various bulwarks is important for dealing with short-term things.

The basic exercise is to imagine your least favorite politician. Any power you give to your favorite politician today has a decent chance of landing in the hands of your least favorite one eventually. Still want to hand that power over?

Another classic example is the first amendment. Some hateful idiot is saying all sorts of bad things. The best answer is, “look, what he’s saying is awful, but we need to let him say those things and for people to counter-argument them rather than suppress them. If he is wrong, the long arc of debate will show that to be true. Because otherwise that power can one day be used against good things, too.”