Join the new world

Imagine a world in which every single person contributed to a cause that people collectively believed was for the betterment of everyone. The cost of the contribution is so low that people believe that it would be "bad" not to participate in this simple, accessible action. In the real world this is analogous to voting, which in a democracy of any kind is an accessible action that in the United States, for example, is considered a civic duty.

Keep imagining, because people feed into their own selfish wants and wishes more frequently than we admit. People who vote or commit an action that is widely considered to be in the best interest to the public good are social idealists, people who identify themselves as democratic citizens should aspire to be.

In reality there are two major products of democracy that sully the idea of this perfect form of government: free riders and power.

Free riders are a group of people that benefit from the actions of the contributing public while they themselves don't contribute. This should not be confused for freeloaders which are people who generally don't contribute in any way. To return to the analogy of voting, free riders are people who don't vote for or against social security policies, free loaders are people who receive the benefits of social security policies without ever paying back into them. Mind you, free riders and freeloaders are not always viewed in such a negative context, but in the public eye, they are normally vilified.

Power is a bit more abstract. Power is the source of most conflict, whether it be the power of a military or the power to choose. Democracy typically fails under two conditions: when power is unreasonably unrestricted and when power is unreasonably restricted. For example, if a United States presidential candidate weren't allowed to accept money from interest groups, campaigns would be more localized, a lot more boring, and not as many people would run. If the president had the power of an unequivocal dictator, more often than not they would suppress the power of democracy and increase the power of "government" to the point where people rebel, case in point: every revolution under the reign of a monarch ever.

I'm a free rider. I log into eRepublik and sometimes work my job, sometimes do my daily orders, and sometimes write a fairly pointless newspaper article. I rarely take part in actual internal political discussion leaving me too uninformed to make decisions as a citizen. This is why I have elected to not join a party or spread propaganda in support or take-down pieces on any party.

If I have written on an issue that struck a chord with a political party, I promise wholeheartedly that I was writing on the issue at hand and not as a subversive attack on any party. I hope that my recent articles will support the integrity of this observational article and I hope that my (self-considered) shift in content is enjoyable for people to consume.

Until next time,
-lachuger

editors personal note: Please don't message me an invitation to join a political party. Until i have done my own research (and I strictly mean my own) research on the political landscape in the US, I will not be joining a political party.