|
Sigh. Why didn't you just ask us the meaning of life?
I think the problems of America are systemic and deep-rooted and will take decades or even generations to reverse. I think most of our problems can be traced to one or more of the following:
1. short-term thinking
2. unenlightened self-interest
3. decisions tend to be based on ideology and not facts
4. widening wealth gap and disappearance of the middle class
I have no idea how to fix the first three. How do you make people change how they think? Part of fixing the short-term thinking problem would be to encourage behavior that emphasizes long-term (economic, environmental, social) sustainability. We could also take a crack at term limits or term extensions so the election cycle wouldn't play such a large role in decision-making.
I don't know how to make people not be self-interested. Even though people often act in their own self-interest, they don't always act rationally or in a way that is TRULY in their self-interest. (E.g., I buy an SUV because I think it's safer for my family, but in the end I'm worse off because of the aggregated environmental effects of a massive number of SUVs on the road; worse off economically because of higher gas prices because of higher demand; worse of in terms of safety because of the number of huge vehicles on the road, etc.) Part of it again has to do with long-term thinking.
In terms of decision-making being based on ideology, I don't know. I guess we could strategically place messages in the media, work to alter curricula, make critical thinking popular somehow.
The last can be accomplished through economic and tax policy if enough people start demanding it.
__________________
"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
|