Adam Cadre: “Occupy the first person plural”

Thought I’d share this bit from Adam Cadre:

Occupy the first person plural

Adam hits a lot of good points in this piece. Reading it also made me think about libertarianism and my biggest problem with it, which is that assume that (to coin a phrase) “everyone is an island” and that every person’s own personal choices only affect that person. If you indulge in behavior that has the potential to cause serious health problems down the road, when those health problems manifest, someone’s going to have to pay to treat them. When you’re no longer able to pay for that treatment on your own, that responsibility is going to fall to your family.

With the costs of healthcare skyrocketing and the government working to dismantle the social safety net, let’s hope your family made the personal decision to have some money.

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And while we’re on the subject of the politics of economy:

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is how, over the past fifteen or so years (at least to my POV), the cost of living has outpaced income growth. It does seem to me that, increasingly, it’s necessary to live beyond one’s means just to get by.

I have a decent enough job and my lifestyle is hardly extravagant. (I’m not going to actually reveal my salary in public, but I make a good wage, especially considering that I spent so little time in college that I barely qualify as a dropout.) Yet while I’ve got a decent cushion of money in case of emergency, I’ve only been able to save this as a result of taking in what amounts to a roommate and splitting the rent with that person (people who know me personally know what I’m referring to here). When I lived alone, I was always struggling–and my lifestyle was even less extravagant.

Looking at my own situation, and those of my friends, it seems to me fundamentally wrong–in a genuinely moral sense–that I shouldn’t be able to afford to live on my own with what I make.

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And just to prove I’m not all doom and gloom: