Right, of course, it's a collective action problem. The payoff for an individual strategy change is low so nobody changes, even though the payoff for a mass strategy change would actually be hugely positive.
But, look, this is what I've been saying all along: the reason I'm pushing back on your points is that you aren't going deep enough. You don't get poor people into work by reminding them that, boy, if they just all got up and send out more applications they'd probably find something. You need to figure out why people aren't more politically engaged. You've got to get into the structural factors and look there.
If Americans aren't turning out en masse for change then there's a reason. You have to get a causal map.
Right now the explanations I'm hearing don't go deeper than 'Americans sure are ignorant, cynical, and disengaged!' (this is true) But that's not a useful diagnostic. If Americans are dispositionally disinclined to ever asking for change, well, end of story, right? But we all know that's not the case. There are causal factors that can be identified.
As ever what I'm pushing for here is recognition that the situation is more complicated than a massive failure of individual will.
