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We’ve always known our democratic system based on the need to get elected every four years has never exactly been the best method for solving big, long-term problems.
Why we still have debt, pollution, poverty, inadequate health care or man-made global warming isn’t because there aren’t solutions. It’s because solutions would mean big public investments (read: taxes) that would hinder voters’ lifestyles in the here and now.
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So politicians feed off the less-charitable aspect of human nature and reassure us the big problems can be addressed by our future generations at some later date. Then it’s off to the polls every four years where governing parties remind us of their “balanced budgets”, big spending commitments and lower taxes and opposition parties argue that the government didn’t do nearly enough of all that.
But what happens if a crisis can’t be postponed to some later date?
What if it’s thrust upon on our political system in real time? What if we are hit by an immediate crisis with the capability of simultaneously swamping our health system and social safety nets and shutting down our industrialized economy?
