Anchor preferences represent the political identify that people adopt. They tend to anchor on a party, an ideology, or a candidate to form their political identity. Most public policy preferences people hold are a derivative of their anchor preferences. They adopt the policy preferences of their anchors to minimize cognitive dissonance, and to economize on the gathering of information that will have no instrumental value to them anyway. Many policy issues are complex, with compelling arguments for different policy positions. Choosing an anchor for their political identity and then deriving policy preferences from those offered by the anchor maximizes the utility that people get from their expressive preferences. The masses adopt the policy preferences of the elite – of those on whom they anchor. They follow their leaders.

If the goal of the political elite is to amass power, this chapter examines policies that maximize political power. Power maximization does not have specific policies associated with it, but is a process by which the elite encourage the masses to give them more power. Political platforms tend to be vague, offering the message that things are not as good now as they could be, but if you give me more power, I will make things better. People see problems and demand that the government should do something, which gives more power to those who already hold it. The chapter discusses the appeal of populism, which is based on the idea that the system is run for the benefit of the elite, and if the populist politician is given power, things will change to benefit the masses. However, the result is to replace one set of elites with another. Policies that maximize political power are those that create dependence on the political elite. This can occur by expanding the welfare state; by giving regulatory, tax, and other benefits to rent-seekers; and by creating apprehension about potential domestic and foreign threats to people’s well-being.