Everybody Thinks They Are Right or the Hypocrisy of Me, You and Everybody Else:
I have always posited that there are basically three types of people in the world, The Creators, the Coveters and the Appreciators. The Creators believe that there is an infinite amount of pie and take joy from the success of others. The Coveters believe that there is a finite amount of pie and if someone else gets any it diminishes the amount they can receive. The Appreciators basically stay neutral, operate within the system presented and take the pie they offered regardless of who is serving. It would be too large a generalization to type people by profession or outlook but there are tendencies that you the reader can deduce.
My observations are that Appreciators are probably the happiest of the lot due to their general outlook, that they persevere and prioritize in the sanest way. Creators are optimistic but frustrated by the Coveters pessimism in the belief that success is always suspect. Coveters are the most miserable of the lot; they take no joy from anyone’s success even their own eg: You could tell a Coveter that you would give them a million dollars if they would allow the person standing next to them two million and they would focus on what they would not get.
The psychology of these archetypes is most probably rooted in the self-esteem of youth but conversion can also occur due to later life experience or training. The drafting of our United States Constitution was done by Creators; it has since been interpreted and malformed for the most part by Coveters. Creators believe that each person should have the opportunity to have what they have if that person is willing to do what they did to get it; Appreciators understand that philosophy and make choices. Conversely, Coveters believe that they the system is inherently unappreciative of their worth and seek to change the system to reward them based on how they see their worth. In the end it is a battle between the belief that obstacles can be overcome and rules and laws created to control success.
The weight of history becomes daunting after a time in a system uninterrupted. The United States now has the longest standing form of government in the world and with that a voluminous amount of laws, regulations and the agencies that support their enforcement. It occurs naturally as each new participant in the system tries to leave their mark on the time they served and usually it becomes what my father likened to the result of a committee designing a race horse, a camel. We no longer recognize the original intent and the costs become weighted to the price of enforcement over the benefits received. I have never experienced a bureaucratic agency volunteer to get smaller nor an regulator agree to fewer rules and law. They believe what they do is important even if many do not understand the law of unintended consequences.
1. DDT was banned in the United States because of bad scientific conclusion in the early 60’s The environmental movement used DDT as a means to increase their power. Charles Wurster, chief scientist for the Environmental Defense Fund, commented, "If the environmentalists win on DDT, they will achieve a level of authority they have never had before. In a sense, much more is at stake than DDT." It is now scientifically understood that the DDT scare was just that but no politician or agency wants to take the heat for pointing that out. In Africa this year 1 million people will die because of malaria and the insecticide DDT would save an estimated half of that number but no one will make it.
2. Union leaders demanded more and more out of the auto industry in Detroit, the auto makers did not have the intestinal fortitude to challenge their workers to think strategically. We now have many fewer union autoworkers an unprofitable Detroit auto industry but the same amount of cars being made in the US, just not in Detroit and not by US companies.
3.France forces Germany into a depression with hyper-inflation by holding them to the restitution terms of the Treaty of Versailles. Germany turns to a Nationalist out of desperation and we get WWII
4. Beginning around 30 years ago the US and European countries shipped tremendous amounts of aid in the form of food to the Middle East and Africa to off-set pestilence and drought, in a PR campaign battle the Soviet Union also sent aid. What occurred is that the population expanded to these new resources and out grew their countries ability to provide for them during normal conditions. This new young population finds no opportunity, subsistence living and has become radicalized.
Economics is no different; throughout the history of the world you can track economic development as it seeks the opportunity and appreciation for its effect. Watch the rise and fall of societies and governments
Sir Alex Fraser Tytler (1742-1813) wrote in his lectures of 1801 : “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”
As we enter into our Presidential Election cycle the preceding quote becomes ever so much more poignant. All of the candidates are not only promising a chicken in every pot but multiple fowl. However, none of them are speaking to how we are going o fix the government programs we have now that are underfunded like Social Security.
The Creators are going to be under new attack, constrained by new tax burdens, regulation and bureaucratic red tape. Those that impede progress wrapped in the trappings of the power that rules and regulation provide will find the wealth they hope to redistribute disappear.
We are now teetering on the brink of a national recession and we will not be insulated in St. Joseph from it if it occurs. Now is the time to demand a more thoughtful take from your local, state and national leadership but not with your individual pocket in mind.
New capital will be scarce for the next few years, banks have been stung by the housing crisis and have become risk averse and money from local, state and national agencies will be scarce for new initiatives. Having St. Josephians spend their money locally will become more important, managing scarce resources for on-going development spent more efficiently will become more critical and new fiscal demands on city government for expanded service and cost less compelling.
It will no longer be strategically prudent or responsible to let process overtake results. There needs to be an us against everybody else philosophy for our community enjoining the public, private and educational sectors of our city to create a common goal to attract every dollar, student, job and taxpayer possible. I propose that our City Manager, City Council, Chamber of Commerce, Missouri Western, Northwest Missouri, Vatterot and Hillyard school heads and other business leaders plan a summit to plan now so that we might not have to react later.
