Government

Show Only ...
Maps - Photos - Videos

Conformity

|

Most people don’t like their views challenged. New ideas can be incredibly painful as they challenge our identities and deepest held beliefs. There are many times when people express opinions or present facts, and I immediately want to reject them. One should not reject those facts, but try to listen and see if they actually make sense.

At age 26, many of my views on the world are changing. I grew up in a different generation then many of you, so my experiences are different. I believe it is important to challenge other people’s beliefs, and try to point out the hypocrisy of them. I wish more people would dare to counter the popular wisdom of their clan. Our society needs more heretics willing to challenge the conventional wisdom.

Buggy

For daring to challenge some of you, I will be branded a traitor. I will be said to be taking the corporate line, or taking the position of the elite. Yet, regardless of where we all stand, shouldn’t be challenging our own views? Certainly many of the views of the progressive community are passed down from the liberal elite, those liberal economists from Yale and Harvard and liberals in the highest level of government.

I don’t believe we should necessarily believe what some professor from Harvard or Yale tells us is right. We have to observe the world ourselves, and not be afraid to ask the hard questions. We should always have a lot of doubt how the world is, and not be afraid to the challenge our clans. I don’t always believe everything I say, but sometimes it is so important to inject new ideas into a discussion.

The Commons

|

There are certain goods that government can provide to people that are largely indivisible and are little consumed by each individual use. While for sure all use consumes and degrades land and infrastructure slightly, the costs are so marginal that the public benefit of providing a good to the public as a whole vastly out weights the cost of maintaining such a property.

Untitled [Expires December 3 2025]

Public lands and infrastructure are good examples of public goods. Most parkland is not extensively damaged by a few people walking on them a day or using their facilities. Lands with back-country camping are quickly healed after people leave them. Roads, within their capacity limits, are not extensively damaged by vehicular traffic. Sidewalks generally are unaffected by whether 10 or 100 people walk on them every day.

Our lives are made better by the commons. On these lands we can meet other humans, we can get from one place or another. We can experience nature. Everybody benefits from the commons, even if they do not use them regularly. Certain individuals will inevitably benefit more from the commons, but their experiences enrich the public as a whole.

Colorado River

The tragedy of the commons is that it has to be regulated to prevent the overuse. People will disagree on how much any particular piece of land can be utilized until it’s experience is degraded to the point where the degradation is essentially intolerable. Indeed, some of the most important public policy debates of the day involved deciding how much to limit the use of the commons.