Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Interesting .

"my circle"
Mary Anne — (archived)

Exactly.

In a voluntary-only charity society, we give to those who are in our circle. Out of sight, out of mind.

People whose circle is impoverished remain impoverished.

People who are kicked out of their circle for one reason or another -- divorce, illness, bankruptcy, job loss -- lose their safety net. Don't tell me that doesn't happen. Think of the people whose friends cut them dead when the friends choose the other spouse in a divorce, or when they can no longer keep up their club membership, or when they suffer from a chronic illness that makes people uncomfortable.

And don't forget: when you get old, you'll be shipped to another place where you'll be out of sight, because you'll be unsightly. How much do you think your circle will be able (I'll assume they'll be willing, though that's not assured for everyone) to provide as you deteriorate?

As it is, rural school districts in PA have gone to court to attempt to provide an equal-opportunity education to the children in their schools, to try to get that evil redistribution of wealth redistributed their way from elsewhere in the state by restructuring the tax laws. Why? Because their tax base is so impoverished that the schools can't keep up with building maintenance, let alone attract a cadre of new, excellent teachers. If those children don't get a decent education, what do you think their circle will look like in 10 years?

Don't even get me started about gated communities: infrastructure for individual circles.

If we only invest in people in our circles, we can very effectively limit access to our circles by people outside of them, thus keeping them in their places.

If you'd like a look at a fictional take on what a world might look like with only our circles to depend on, you can read Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Welcome to the Burbclaves, the city-states that makes up the Untied States of America.

We can remember the words of Benjamin Franklin. He was speaking about political unity, but the theme was unity just the same: "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

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