Re:Terry Pratchett's unfinished novels destroyed by steamroller
by dspillett on Wednesday August 30, 2017 @12:23PM
(#15133455)
The key problem with referenda is they put an amount of control of the future into the hands of people who decide on important insurances based on which company gives the best cuddly toy, and give about as much complex thought to political decisions too (so are easily swayed by whoever sqwaks out their atrocious disingenuineness and out-right lies the loudest - not that I'm bitter at all...).
A group (say, of castaways on a desert island) can easily afford to have 99% of people donate 1% of their output to support a 1% of their population that was paralyzed in the crash, and most would prefer not to watch that 1% die of neglect. But individually, no one can give 100% of their output to that 1%.
Left to their own devices and anonymous, people will slowly opt out of the voluntary contribution, and the situation will be worse than what everyone wanted. Unless the group has some means of compelling everyone to contribute.
I'd rather live in a society where everyone (including myself) was forced to contribute, than a society in which no one was. Living in a society in which everyone else happens to contribute to the things you'd like, while you don't have to contribute, is not an option that's on the table.