> Kind of like asking people if they would rather eat healthy or known unhealthy food. And most people will answer healthy --because that is their idealized answer but in reality it's too much work for many people so they eat unhealthy food fully understanding the consequences.
I think you've hit on a good point, and following your analogy, most of us are just too damned lazy or apathetic to get worked up about it (bad food or bad government). It's easier and cheaper to buy and consume unhealthy food, just as it's easier and (mentally) cheaper to just pretend everything is fine with the world the way it is. Sure, we're going to get fat and die of a heart attack at 50, and sure, we're going to steadily lose our privacy and the ability to exercise our rights; but in the here and now, we're living in blissful ignorance and it feels just good enough to not bother changing things. In the back of our mind we know there's a better path, but taking that path requires effort and sacrifice, so we take the path of least resistance.
I think you've hit on a good point, and following your analogy, most of us are just too damned lazy or apathetic to get worked up about it (bad food or bad government). It's easier and cheaper to buy and consume unhealthy food, just as it's easier and (mentally) cheaper to just pretend everything is fine with the world the way it is. Sure, we're going to get fat and die of a heart attack at 50, and sure, we're going to steadily lose our privacy and the ability to exercise our rights; but in the here and now, we're living in blissful ignorance and it feels just good enough to not bother changing things. In the back of our mind we know there's a better path, but taking that path requires effort and sacrifice, so we take the path of least resistance.