Reply #11: This has little or nothing to do with "right-wing ideology"

[IrateCitizen]

It is part of the basic nature of human beings as borne out through our history since the Neolithic Revolution, along with the extreme limitations of living within a democratic system.

Pray tell me, what politician in the United States (or any other Western democracy, for that matter) could be elected by proposing the kind of stringent measures that would be necessary to adequately address the numerous crises we face? Jimmy Carter once told us to turn down our heat and put on a sweater -- and in 1980 he got turned out on his ear. I'm not saying that was the whole reason he was defeated, but it certainly played a role.

It's a nice conundrum we're in. The only thing that is big and powerful enough to really address this problem is government. However, that government is paralyzed against meaningful action because or the very shortcomings of the democratic process. People are, by their very nature, loathe to give up things they have come to take as their birthright. Woe to the politician who proposes they have to seriously sacrifice.