One of the most direct ways to improve a flawed system is simply to end the ability of rich and powerful people to exclude themselves from it. If, for example, you outlawed private schools, the public schools would get better. They would get better not because every child deserves to have a
quality education, but rather because it would be the only for rich and powerful people to ensure that their children were going to good schools.
The theory of "a rising tide lifts all boats" does
not work when you allow the people with the
most influence to buy their way out of the water. It would be nice if we fixed broken systems simply because they are broken. In practice, governments are generally happy to ignore broken things if they do not affect people with enough power to make the government listen. So the more people
that we push into public systems, the better.
Rich kids should go to public schools. The mayor should ride the subway to work. When wealthy people get sick, they should be sent to public hospitals. Business executives should have to stand in the same airport security lines as everyone else. The very fact that people want to buy their way out of all of these experiences points to the reason why they shouldn't be able to.
Private schools and private limos and private
doctors and private security are all pressure
release valves that eliminate the friction that
would cause powerful people to call for all of
these bad things to get better. The degree to
which we allow the rich to insulate themselves
from the unpleasant reality that others are forced to experience is directly related to how long that reality is allowed to stay unpleasant. When they are left with no other option, rich people will force improvement in public systems. Their public spirit will be infinitely less urgent when they are contemplating these things from afar than when they are sitting in a hot ER waiting room for six hours themselves.
This sort of mandatory equality is obviously not what powerful people prefer. They will object that it infringes upon their rights. Because the right in question is the right to pretend that the rights of others are not as important as their own, it is not a right that we should be too bothered about violating. If they want to file a complaint, they can get in line at City Hall, like everyone else.
Reminds me of this from Hamilton Nolan
!["[[BLORNSWORTH slumps exhausted against a chair while CRANDIBLE lounges with his feet up.]]
BLORNSWORTH: Whoooffff. I just ate an entire jumbo bag of chips and I do NOT feel good about it
CRANDIBLE: Let me know if THIS makes you feel any better...
CRANDIBLE: Imagine all the loose chips from that jumbo bag.
CRANDIBLE: Now imagine them all mashed up into a SOLID LUMP of salt and carbs.
CRANDIBLE: How BIG would that lump be? ALL the chips in one giant mass?
CRANDIBLE: That's INSIDE you now. That's in your GUTS. That's what YOU put in there.
BLORNSWORTH (despairingly): That does NOT, in fact, make me feel better.
CRANDIBLE: I didn't think it would!
{{header: that dense, thick WONDERMARK.COM}}"](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kihgsldesfdvdp7fi65m3m45/bafkreieimta2hachkmdxnu7pekfyung23x4zoqfofypniiatjtuqpmuxky)
![[[Jesus Christ, Lord of all humanity, speaks with the beautifully demonic fallen angel Lucifer, Prince of the Air, the one known as Satan, in the cavern-like bowels of Hell.]]
SATAN: Hey, Josh! Long time no see. What're you doing in this neck of the woods?
JESUS: Ah, you know, I got crucified last night.
SATAN: Bummer! Well, come in, the kids'll be thrilled to see their god-dad.
JESUS: Thanks, but I can't. I have to defeat you and return to life to save the souls of the world.
SATAN: Okay, well, make it quick, we're just sitting down to Passover seder.
JESUS: I'll swing wide, you just sell it.
{{header: break bread at WONDERMARK.COM}}](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:kihgsldesfdvdp7fi65m3m45/bafkreib573gwkpwbujk3mwmfalczwoy5j66dgv3bdchcyqamvb4f23tpiq)
![Easter Eggs in the Bible
BREAD EGG:
The first ever Easter egg was hand made from bread by Jesus at the Last Supper. Came with a free Holy Grail and two bits of bread.
[Image shows a very rough basic egg made of bread in a box clearly made by a carpenter.]
FIRST SMARTIES EGG:
St Matthewâs Gospel describes candy-covered rabbit droppings that came âactually inside the eggâ, not in a separate packet like nowadays.
GODâS POSH EGG
One for the aunties: the first âhigh-endâ Artisan egg made by God himself. Dark chocolate, posh box, infinite cocoa content.
[Image shows a posh egg on a cloud in heaven]
ROMAN YORKIE EGG:
The first Yorkie egg came in a chariot-shaped box marketed at âManly Romansâ. Latin wordsearch on the back.
[Image shows an elaborate cardboard chariot box containing the egg]
EARLY SNICKERS:
Snickers used to be called Marathon and before that it was called UNG-ERWEH which meant âFourteen Lashes Unto The Shepherdâ. We can see why they changed it!
CREME EGGS:
According to the Gospel of St Matthew, Cadburyâs Creme Eggs were âabsolutely massiveâ and had âproper chocolateâ in 2000 BKE (Before Kraft Era). Scriptures describe a âmystery fillingâ that gave mild chemical burns. [Show a giant Creme Egg in someoneâs hands]
SATANâS EGG:
Never one to be outdone, the Lord of Darkness sought to compete with God on the âsophisticatedâ market. High quality dark egg cursed by Satan himself, with two free bars of âloathesome matterâ. Withdrawn from sale.
[Show an evil looking red egg in a box with â666â on it, two bars of what looks like bloody flesh, blood dripping out of the front.]
[Ends]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:4m3we4apbjayclzcnhwe3pfp/bafkreieu6ss5fxvm2z3frvqcv26mmy652niity7mvuzuamyvdtazvxodg4)
