A Beautiful Mind

18th century Scottish economist, Adam Smith said, “Individual ambition serves the common good.” That always made sense to me. If everyone is working in their own interests, taking care of themselves and their families, then society works successfully. There is an old Chinese saying, “If families take care of families, the country will take care of itself.” This does not mean that we should not give to charity or help people out who are in need. In reality, the people who have taken care of their own needs, who are individually prosperous, are the ones who are most capable of giving to charity and helping those in need. So, working in our own interests, is actually working for everyone’s interests.

In the 2001 movie, A Beautiful Mind, Nobel Prize winning economist, John Nash, played by Russell Crowe, has an epiphany when he says, “Adam Smith said, ‘the best results come from everyone in the group doing what’s best for himself’, right? That’s what he said, right? Incomplete. Incomplete. Because the best result will come from everyone in the group doing what’s best for himself and the group… Adam Smith needs revision.” And that revision was the basis of his Nobel Prize winning Equilibrium.

How much do we work for our own interests and how much do we work for the greater good, is the root question when determining the size of government and its role in the lives of its citizens. There is always a push and pull. If there is no government, it becomes anarchy. If there is complete government rule, it becomes totalitarian. Where should we fit between anarchy and totalitarianism? Nash’s Equilibrium gives us an insight as to how we should approach answering that question. We must work in the best interests of the individual citizens and the best interest of the country as a whole. Strong American citizens make America stronger; a strong America makes American citizens stronger. It is a symbiotic relationship. We are all dependent on one another.