Saturday, November 5, 2011

People hate people, so why should it be?

A lot of the problems with politics (all politics I mean - democracies, autocracies, communism, etc.), is that psychologically-speaking, people just hate other people.  Particularly out-groups.  It doesn't matter how the out-group is defined - by race, religion, height, number of sexual partners, number of freckles, number of times they drop a shit during the day, etc. But even in-groups hate each other. One thing we need to do to revive the economy is forgive a lot of the debt that has been incurred by our neighbors and friends. Some of these people spent it on medical emergencies. But others spent it on a second bathroom.  The nerve! Or an iphone! How dare they!!!
This leads to scenarios were people are just dripping with contempt for their fellow man.  If you put these voters in a secret booth and ask them "Would you vote for legislation that automatically increased your own personal (personal, not just household) income by $2,000, but it would also forgive $20,000 in debt on your neighbor's mortgage, well...I bet that initiative would fail 70%-30%. I mean, I don't think it would stand a chance. That's the sort of thing that needs to be done in this economy but it will NEVER happen.  It CAN happen for corporations because a) corporations donate a lot of political money to make sure it happens and b) people just don't hate corporations like they hate other PEOPLE. It's just the way it is. The frustrating thing is there is no policy solution for this. There is no way to make it politically palatable.  People are people. And people hate moochers.  That's why I don't give a shit about public opinion polls when it comes to policy decision making. You can't even trust individuals to act in their own best interest! So honestly, who gives a shit what they think?

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