Americans don't understand the value of incentives

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To solve the problem of climate change, you should not make any effort to convince the government to reduce subsidies for coal, oil, or gas, neither should you push for reduction of subsidies for driving and an increase in subsidies for public transit; instead, you're supposed to just stop driving and use public transit, even if it adds hours to your commute everyday or you have to walk alongside a road with a high speed limit that doesn't have sidewalks. Don't whine to me about difficulty, the planet is in danger! And don't talk to me about incentives! That the planet is in danger should be incentive enough for you!

Recently, I had a debate with a user from Oregon on Reddit, and a point they made in the debate I think underscores very well why the United States is having so many problems: Our backwards way of thinking. Their basic point was this:



I tried to point out the absurdity of what this user was saying, but all I got was a holier-than-thou browbeating from them. That is, until I invited them to try to convince 300+ million Americans to take on those difficulties without any assistance or incentives, and they conceded that, sure, the planet being in danger should be incentive enough, but they would probably be unable to convince enough Americans to do that, and lamented the whole situation.

Considering my experience with my uncle recently, I get the sense that this kind of thinking is prevalent in America, even among people on the left. If you try to talk about changing government policy to meet some end, they instead like to come back with a bunch of shoulds and should-nots for you personally, often derailing the discussion. I'm guessing that this is that old "rugged individualism" mentality coming into play, the idea that every person should lift themselves up "by the bootstraps" and if there's a problem to solve it themselves without bothering anyone else with it, tinged with good old-fashioned sanctimonious and Puritan-ish morality where "we can't let people get away with whatever it is we are afraid they are getting away with."*

This type of thinking might have worked in the 19th century, but I think it's become positively toxic and harmful in the 21st century, and is preventing us from seriously dealing with modern problems. We need to adapt to the way things are today, not some half-mythical past.

*This wonderful quote is culled from this Tax Notes interview of McGill Law Professor Allison Christians, where she describes it as a "frat mentality" (go to 17:38):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrSxlcx49hY