Micro-Government 101

The news cycle has been dominated with stories that have just plum not interested me lately. Thus I am going to do something a bit different for today's post. I'm going to talk about my life, and use a little story to illustrate some sort of lesson.

I live in a house with three other guys. The four of us attend Michigan Technological University. We are all juniors and have been friends since we met in the dorms freshman year. As was to be expected, living in close proximity to one another in the dorms was one thing, but having to share everything is proving to provide many learning oppurtunities.

The most recent incident to illustrate the tension created when people have to share living quarters is as follows. My housemate Kevin gave himself a haircut. As an aside, the haircut was less than stellar and Donny, another housemate, had to give it some finishing touches. Anyway, Kevin did not clean up all the hair that was spilled in the bathroom. Zac, the final housemate, is a neat freak and spazzed when the hair remained two days later.

A house meeting was called and we discussed how people were not obeying the implicit rule that when you used something, you need to clean up after yourself. It's a good rule to be sure. No one likes having to sit on a dirty toilet or to cook on a skillet that has gunk all over it. Yet, we were not obeying the rule. Why, I wonder?

Obviously, a rule is a grand thing, but without some sort of incentive, either positive or negative, the rule is not going to work completely. This incident reflects less poorly on myself and the fellows I live with, and more on the whole of humanity. And here comes the predictable lesson. People are fallible and cannot be trusted to govern themselves based on a code of honor.

But there is another lesson, too. A certain amount of government is needed. We instituted a fine that will go to a general house fund. This will, supposedly, provide a disincentive to not clean up after oneself. I'm skeptical as to how long this rule change will work, if at all, even though it was my idea.

This government thing is harder than it looks. Maybe I should stop being so harsh on the folks in Washington. I'm sure this stage will pass and I'll call for hellfire to rain down upon the beltway in no time.

This has been a slightly humbling experience. I don't wish to over-dramatize the event. It was hardly worth mentioning at all, except to demonstrate the larger points that I have made. Governing is quite difficult, and at times we--or maybe it's just me--need to remember that our elected representatives are doing the best they can.