Government

We how it DOESN'T work. We don't have honourable governments, full of civil servants with social integrity on their minds, free of conflicts of interest (meaning free of incentives to do things against the public interest). We also don't have evil capitalists at the helm, who only care about money and power (although it sure looks that way sometimes). I think a clear sense of how it really works might help us create strategies for altering the structures and incentives so that the Public Good might prevail at the top of the list of incentives motivating politicians and civil servants. So: What DO we have?

1. Business people in politics and politicians in business.
2. Business lobby groups influencing policy directions.
3. Business organizations setting the legistative agendas according to the perceived best interests of members.
4. Government officials work hard to try and stay in positions of influence, and there are complicated dynamics constricting what they can and cannot say or do, regardless of what they WANT to say or do.
   
5. What else? how does it really work?