There’s plenty of challenging tradeoffs that need to be made. Whether to prioritize efficiency or equality, whether to do reparations, determining who should get amnesty, welfare, etc.
These decisions in the best of times are bound to be controversial and require a thick skin, and a willingness to look at the situation critically. Some topics like the well being of future people traded off to the demands of today don’t really have an answer. In a sense, many of our political issues are Gordian knots. As we move up to regional and national politics, more and more people are going to find objections towards the viewpoints of the governing.
Alexander the Great’s strategy is to avoid bothering the puzzle and instead to slice through it. Much in the same way that you can avoid engaging with puzzles, you can do the same for much of politics. Example: some counties want more immigrants. Others want less. Why not let the states decide who they bring in. Repeat until all political issues are local.
The big pro to this is that it allows for variation or laboratories for democracy. Let’s see what others can come up with, slice through bureaucracy, and let federalism work.
Isadore Johnson's Website 