Originally Posted by
tandempower
Austerity isn't hard to achieve by totalitarian mandate. The challenge is popularizing it within free democratic societies. It's just like with driving. The more people stay off the roads, the better traffic flows for those who do drive. The challenge is getting those people off the roads without forcing them off by means of high fuel prices, economic recession, etc. Wouldn't it be great to have a prosperous economy where people are free to drive precisely because most don't most of the time? That would be a triumph of democracy and freedom over economic compulsion.
...and human nature over the course of recorded history indicates that this is just not how humans work. Economics of driving and human emotion: the better traffic flows, the more people want to drive. Democracy and freedom in combination with economic compulsion has led to the level of car culture we now enjoy. When I point out the nearest thing to austerity in the USA -- higher fuel prices -- which might drive people to seek alt transport, the answer by the masses is not bicycles and public transport, it's a car-centered solution: electrics and hybrids. How do you get around that compulsion?