Quote:
Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Tragedy of the commons. I think Coltrane started us off with that. Everybody knows what they're doing, and the adverse aggregate effect you cite. We're individually compelled to draw the circle tight, particularly in difficult economic times.
It'd be great to do otherwise, but we're animals. There's no way enough of us would buck instinctual greed and survival urges to create policies that benefit everybody more fairly. The best we get is what we've got - a fistfight for resources among the advantaged, a minimal welfare state for the rest. Perhaps that's all we can hope to achieve. History seems to indicate it.
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That "minimal welfare state" is under attack. We better shore it up, or we'll find out just how much the status quo can be busted up.
