"This is one of my bugbears -- the twenty-first century view that politics doesn’t really matter, because innovation and enterprise is what counts," Runciman continued. "That view is just dead wrong. Bad political choices can precipitate wars, financial disasters and ecological catastrophes that no amount of innovation will ever make right. And believing that politics doesn’t matter makes it more likely that we will screw things up: That’s what makes us complacent."
The temptation to fall into the confidence trap is almost irresistible. Consider American intervention in Vietnam. The war was a series of catastrophic mistakes. Now, Vietnam is eagerly making concessions to join an American-led Pacific trade deal. What doesn't destroy us seems only to make us more powerful.
Trouble is, the past is an imperfect guarantor of the future. Trump would be by far the most untested and unreliable president in modern history. Maybe everything would turn out fine. But maybe, this time, it wouldn't. Maybe our faith in democratic resiliency would be misplaced, and our current ill temper, instead of fading, would be dangerously exploited by a mercurial opportunist.
"At some point, that combination of anger and complacency is going to put American democracy at risk, no matter what Buffett says," Runciman said. "And when American democracy is at risk, then everything else is at risk too."
Maybe even Berkshire Hathaway.
Francis Wilkinson writes editorials on politics and domestic policy. He was previously executive editor of the Week. He was also national affairs writer for Rolling Stone, a communications consultant and a political media strategist.