And that's why we should decentralise power to the most local entity we can (somewhere between a central government and the individual affected by a choice) and have as few elected officials as possible.
Imagine if San Diego wanted water from the Colorado River (what nerve!). They’d have to negotiate with every little town next to the river. And if one town doesn’t want to negotiate, well, they can attract business with offers of “take as much water as you want” and “emit as much toxic waste as you want”, and we’ll fuck the people downstream.
Many know of "The Wealth of Nations", but how many have read Smith's "Theory of Moral Sentiments"? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Smith#The_Theory_of_Moral...
> Although The Wealth of Nations is widely regarded as Smith's most influential work, Smith himself is believed to have considered The Theory of Moral Sentiments to be a superior work.[79]
> Rae, John (1895). Life of Adam Smith. London & New York: Macmillan. ISBN 0-7222-2658-6. Retrieved 14 May 2018 – via Internet Archive.
Apparently this demonstrates the power of the invisible hand of the marketplace.