America's Broken Politics - American Psyche: Two companion pieces

[trof]

America's broken politics
Jeffery Sachs - The Guardian
Social polarisation, the growth in lobbying and a loss of faith in process has left government paralysed in the face of huge challenges.

Moreover, the political process itself is broken. The Senate now operates on an informal rule that opponents will try to kill a legislative proposal through a "filibuster" – a procedural attempt to prevent the proposal from coming to a vote. To overcome a filibuster, the proposal's supporters must muster 60 of 100 votes, rather than a simple majority. This has proved impossible on controversial policies – such as binding reductions on carbon emissions – even when a simple majority supports the legislation.

An equally deep crisis stems from the role of big money in politics. Backroom lobbying by powerful corporations now dominates policymaking negotiations, from which the public is excluded. The biggest players, including Wall Street, the automobile companies, the healthcare industry, the armaments industry, and the real-estate sector, have done great damage to the US and world economy during the last decade. Many observers regard the lobbying process as a kind of legalised corruption, in which huge amounts of money change hands, often in the form of campaign financing, in return for specific policies and votes.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/23/us-government-tax-reform-crisis

The Free Rider Problem
Rick Steves - Seattle City Brights

Other countries have struggled to become more "social-istic," like Denmark...and failed. So how do the Danes pull it off?

I think their success relates to their acceptance of their social contract. Any society needs to subscribe to a social contract ' basically, what you agree to give up in order to live together peacefully. Densely populated Europe generally embraces Rousseau's social contract: In order to get along well, everyone will contribute a little more than their share and give up a little more than their share. Then, together, we'll all be fine.

In contrast, the United States subscribes to John Locke's version of the social contract: a "don't fence me in" ideal of rugged individualism, where you can do anything you like as long as you don't hurt your neighbor. Just keep the government off our backs. In some ways, this suits us: As we have always had more elbow room, we can get away with our "rugged individualism." Thanks to our wide-open spaces, determination to be self-sufficient, and relative population sparsity, it's easier ' and arguably less disruptive ' for us to ignore the free rider problem.

If I had to identify one major character flaw of Americans, it might be our inability to appreciate the free rider problem. Many Americans practically consider it their birthright to make money they didn't really earn, enjoy the fruits of our society while cheating on their taxes, drive a gas-guzzler just because they can afford it, take up two parking spots so no one will bump their precious car, and generally jigger the system if they can get away with it. We often seem to consider actions like these acceptable...without considering the fact that if everyone did it, our society as a whole would suffer.
http://blog.seattlepi.com/ricksteves/archives/185844.asp

[phantom power]

1. My wife is remarkably hung-up on the "free rider" problem...

I admit to being shocked by her anger at the idea of having to pay for people who would take advantage of her tax dollars.

I mean, it really makes her angry.

:shrug:

[Hamlette]

2. we are, as a country, a bunch of selfish bastards

I've always argued the GOP broke the stinking social contract. They are the party of "I've got mine, fuck you." Maybe they are the real Americans.

[phantom power]

3. I agree with the OP -- until very recently we were still a frontier nation.

Also, we are geographically very large and resource-rich. There has simply been relatively little social pressure towards developing an ethic of social contract at the govt level. Europe, by necessity, has had centuries of additional practice.

I also think our Protestant/Calvinist roots are showing through.

In my wife's particular experience, her father grew up in a shack, and heated his house with coal he and his father dug by hand from a local outcropping. She grew up using a wood stove because for several years they couldn't afford heating oil. Both she and her father more or less lived the whole "up-by-your-bootstraps" narrative, and so they are highly predisposed to demagoguery in the "no-free-ride" vein.

That isn't to say I agree, but as far as she is concerned her life experience validates that narrative. Not an argument I expect to win, at least in the near future.

[treestar]

4. People like that just don't get that not everyone even has the boots

or the straps, or that the bottom rung of the ladder has been lifted higher, so some aren't within range of it.

[trof]

7. If I had no family here, I'd choose to live somewhere in Europe.

Seriously.
If it was just me and Miz t., no kids or grandkids, I'd be somewhere in the UK, or the south of France, or Italy, or Spain, or Portugal.
The Nordic countries are a little too chilly for me.
;-)

[trof]

6. Many people I know seem to feel the same way.

"Why should 'I' have to pay for other people's..." fill in the blank.
And the social contract...safety net for all...argument is too abstract for them and falls on deaf ears.
"I got mine. Now YOU get yours."
:eyes:

[NorthCarolina]

5. It boils down to Intelligence, Compassion , and Maturity

Unfortunately America is, in general, severely lacking on all three accounts

[trof]

8. In the scheme of the history of the world's nations we're still infants.

And we're brats.
:-(