Political Hamburger Helper

The idea of hamburger helper is that something valuable (meat) is in short supply (at least for the price) and so you can cook up a meal to stretch the meat you have farther. That is basically the theory behind most of our political and economic system. General concern for the public good is in short supply, but self-interest is plentiful. So lets set up a political system where politicians pursuing their self-interested desire for reelection will have to make us happy to maintain power. Let's set up an economic system where everyone can just look out for their own family and the magic invisible hands of supply and demand will take care of the rest.

That's the theory. The problem is it can't work for ever. Selfishness is a vice. The thing about both virtues and vices is that they are not constant. Exercising a virtue tends to cause you to become more virtuous not less, and indulging a vice makes you more likely to act from the same vice in the future. Do you really think we all have 1000 self-control units to use however we wish each month? People who practice self-control find it easier to be self-controlled the next time and people who indulge their desires find it harder. So if you set up systems that encourage people to be selfish, then eventually ....