Exactly this. Words are cheap these days, people do say various things to further their goals. Days where leaders stood by their words as sort of moral testament of their character are gone, probably for good.

As we see many people will do or say just about anything to get more money, prestige or power.

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notarobot123 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

For now but not for good. Neglecting moral character works as a shortcut for maybe a generation or two. But that path leads to destruction and decay eventually. It can't last.

	▲	iugtmkbdfil834 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Thank you. Agreed. There are some practical limits to that path. It works in the current ecosystem partially because the resulting degradation is slow, but it is built upon societal trust. Once it is gone, it will be rather painful to restore. A new new deal will be needed, so to speak ( political evocation is accidental, but it is too late for me to coherently rewrite ).

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gleenn 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

So what is the best system to get people to be invested in the general welfare of all people? What are we supposed to do?

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greggoB 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Your question seems to imply that people have to be corralled towards a specific action, which to me comes across as rather cynical.

Why is it not possible to lay out your arguments honestly and let people decide on the merits?

	▲	iugtmkbdfil834 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I think, part of the issue is that, as a mass of humans, we tend to be rather dumb. And they certainly don't decide on merits, in aggregate. It is somewhat questionable if they decide on merits even as individuals ( unless we expand the definition somewhat ). But it is possible I got too cynical.

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Antibabelic 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Some problems don't have solutions.