© 2008 by Michael Swickard, Ph.D.
“We do not have a money problem in
Edelman is right, but the real question is, why do we have a values and priorities problem in the first place? Why are we not using our wealth and enlightenment to make society better? Because politics does not reward it. Our government is bad to the bone by design.
This society is run by politicians who get elected by promising to take from one citizen and give to another for that person’s vote. Over the years, politicians have increased the size, reach and debt of government to the verge of disaster while ignoring all of this country’s most pressing problems.
Through all of the campaign rhetoric there is never a hint of tackling our problems, since that would alienate some of the voters. Each politician spends the campaign season offering to bribe us with our own money and not working on our very real problems.
These design flaws are nothing new, but are becoming more profound each year. Each year the national debt goes up while both parties blame each other. In reality it is the fault of both parties. Likewise are the problems of Social Security, health care, national defense, secure borders, immigration, education, prisons… I could go on and on. In each of these areas our society is not reaching long-term, sustainable solutions.
Example: In the middle 1960s our government began what was called “The war on poverty.” After spending more money than can be counted over 40 years, there are more poor people today than then. We have lost the war on poverty. Why? Because the design of the solution was political – use the program to get more political power rather than help those people.
Those politicians who point out that the war on poverty is a failed program that has enslaved more people than it freed are in danger of being voted out of office by those who want a handout more than anything else. We have found the problem. It is us.
The political solution was to make people dependent on government. Rather than get people off of government assistance, our government created several generations of people who have done nothing but put their hand out for their money in trade for their votes.
Marshall McLuhan quipped, “I don’t know who discovered water, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a fish.” Likewise, we have lived with the design dysfunctions so long we do not see them. We citizens are not even expecting our government to solve the problems it created in the first place.
Incentives, disincentives
In every society there are incentives to do the “right” things and disincentives to keep citizens from doing the “wrong” things. Each law passed by Congress and state legislatures provides either an incentive for citizens to act in a certain way or a disincentive of adverse consequences.
An example is speeding on our highways. The disincentive is two-fold – loss of money and the possibility of losing the privilege of driving. So why do we still have people getting tickets every day for exceeding the speed limit? Principally it is because the law providing the disincentive and the actual enforcement efforts do not constitute an effective barrier to that behavior. Why do we have perhaps 20 million people in our country illegally? Because the incentives to be legal and the disincentive to be illegal from enforcement are not working.
Why are we about $55 trillion in debt when we count Social Security? It is a number too vast to imagine. No politician has a plan to fix this bad-to-the-bone design program. Why? Because we citizens do not demand it. They stand a better chance of election if they ignore the very real danger to our country.
Admitting the problem
The design problem is never more visible than if I, Michael Swickard, decided to run for the United States Senate. Never fear, wild horses could not get me to do so. But if I did, and I ran on the platform of no pork, my potential constituents would ensure I lost since they would reason correctly that if I did not bring the bacon home, someone else would feast on my state’s pork and their taxes would not lower.
Further, if we never re-elect anyone from our state, then other states get our pork since they have seniority. How do we get out of this design problem? By not selling our vote to the highest bidder. By shouting down any candidate who does not have any plan for what really ails us.
The system is designed to elect the absolute worst candidates. But it only works if we really do stick to the bad design. To change our values and priorities we must not be buying with our votes the stolen goods of another citizen.
It has taken many years for us to get this far in trouble. The first step is to admit we have a problem. I will if you will.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.