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This is fantastic. When I lived in one of the southern states of India—where water scarcity is a real problem—the government made it mandatory to have rainwater

This is fantastic. When I lived in one of the southern states of India—where water scarcity is a real problem—the government made it mandatory to have rainwater harvesting systems installed in all government and residential buildings. This happened in the year 2001. Since they didn't follow the incentive model like in Tuscon, there was some resistance initially. However, it took off—albeit grudgingly—and a plethora of 10 and 15 year studies proved that the scheme singularly altered the water table in most parts of the state avoiding potential droughts. I don't understand why any region that faces water scarcity doesn't simply make it a necessity.

jimmywanger 9y ago
I'm not being sarcastic, but for some things, democracy is a hinderance. For instance, in China, everybody is pretty much forced to learn Mandarin (generally). The schools are taught in it, and if you don't do well in school you won't get a good job and will be shown your way to irrelevance. In India, I believe there are hundreds of languages being spoken. Imagine their economic and political power if the government one day just said "All government free education will be taught in English. There will be no Hindi, Bengali, Keralan, etc etc for schools that receive government funding. Also, all government forms will only be available in English and all government offices will only speak English. If you don't speak English at least decently, you will be fired." You cannot get away with that in a democracy. In a dictatorship it's the stroke of a pen. Which is ultimately better for the economy?
- hydrox24 9y ago
  > Which is ultimately better for the economy? Only asking this question will naturally lead you to hypotheticals where dictatorships give better results. There are absolutely some systemic disadvantages to democratic systems, but I don't think this is one of them. There is enormous cultural richness and benefit and the multiplicity of languages. The stroke of the pen would help the economy immensely, but also destroy an extraordinary amount of culture and wealth, much of it intangible.
  - jimmywanger 9y ago
    > The stroke of the pen would help the economy immensely, but also destroy an extraordinary amount of culture and wealth, much of it intangible. Maslov's pyramid. Does a starving peasant care about culture and intangible "wealth" if trading that for food is what we're talking about? The Communists rammed through a whole new writing system to replace a ~5k year old one and nobody complained too much, even though it's ugly as heck.

jimmywanger 9y ago

I'm not being sarcastic, but for some things, democracy is a hinderance. For instance, in China, everybody is pretty much forced to learn Mandarin (generally). The schools are taught in it, and if you don't do well in school you won't get a good job and will be shown your way to irrelevance. In India, I believe there are hundreds of languages being spoken. Imagine their economic and political power if the government one day just said "All government free education will be taught in English. There will be no Hindi, Bengali, Keralan, etc etc for schools that receive government funding. Also, all government forms will only be available in English and all government offices will only speak English. If you don't speak English at least decently, you will be fired." You cannot get away with that in a democracy. In a dictatorship it's the stroke of a pen. Which is ultimately better for the economy?

hydrox24 9y ago
> Which is ultimately better for the economy? Only asking this question will naturally lead you to hypotheticals where dictatorships give better results. There are absolutely some systemic disadvantages to democratic systems, but I don't think this is one of them. There is enormous cultural richness and benefit and the multiplicity of languages. The stroke of the pen would help the economy immensely, but also destroy an extraordinary amount of culture and wealth, much of it intangible.
- jimmywanger 9y ago
  > The stroke of the pen would help the economy immensely, but also destroy an extraordinary amount of culture and wealth, much of it intangible. Maslov's pyramid. Does a starving peasant care about culture and intangible "wealth" if trading that for food is what we're talking about? The Communists rammed through a whole new writing system to replace a ~5k year old one and nobody complained too much, even though it's ugly as heck.