A Caveat from the Future (or maybe the past)

Once upon a time, Iraq was a prosperous nation, that spanned huge swaths of land, produced all it needed, and was the envy of all around it. Actually, three times upon a time. The first was the long period during which alternatively the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Babylonians (again), and Medes (which many Kurds believe that they are descendents of) ruled what is now Iraq, and they were arguably the most prosperous and advanced nation during this time. From that time, until the rise, and arrival of the Arabs, Iraq was ruled by a succession of foreign invaders, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Parthians, Sassanians, and so on. But once the Arabs did arrive, they found in Iraq a vast repository of knowledge from the previous civilizations, and they raised Iraq and specifically Baghdad to its height of power. There was another brief interlude following first Turkic, and then Mongol invasions, where Iraq slid into ill repair, but during the 1600’s during the Ottoman Age, Baghdad was a jewel of the crown, and wealthy beyond compare.

However, now, Iraq is a basket case, and it has nothing to do with George W. Bush’s policies, or military mistakes. Iraq has slowly been ruining itself over the last two hundred years! I don’t know when it started but I know what the problem is: selfishness.

Of course, Americans are proverbial for materialism, and that reputation is well deserved, but I have never seen a more self centered culture in my entire life. Earlier this week there was an IED that killed several people at a certain location. Were the people who lived nearby concerned about the death toll? Did they care about those who had been killed, who were actually their relatives? Did they look for a way to stop the carnage? Did they look for ways to help their neighbor? Did they even ask what we were going to do to fix the problem? NO! All they were concerned about was how military activities attempting to make the area more secure were going to affect them. One woman even said that she didn’t care what happened as long as we didn’t disturb her.

This attitude is what ensures that Iraq will remain a third world country. When disaster strikes there are two options: help out, or rip off. If society chooses rip off, even once, it risks destroying itself. On a grander scale, everyday, people have to choose whether to look out for themselves, or the greater good. The simplest example is a line, at a bank, or for gas, or whatever. If you look out only for yourself you are going to try and cut, but if you look out for the greater good, you will stay and wait your turn. The irony is that if you try and cut, you might get gas sooner, but it is more sure if everyone waits their turn.

Of course, this is an example of the tragedy of the commons problem. Every society deals with it, but the more blood and treasure that is spent trying to ensure that people are following the basic rules the less money is available for other things like national security. Here, an entire Army company must secure the gas station to prevent riots! This of course leads to all kinds of corruption, and kick backs, but most importantly it diverts important resources away from other more critical problems. (Can you imagine if there had to be thirty US soldiers at every gas station, how colossal a goat rope that would be.) The biggest issue is that no one sees themselves as part of the problem. As I said before, everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule.

This should really be taken as a warning. We don’t seem to have lost our sense of civic responsibility in the United States, yet. But it only takes a generation, and once it is gone, it will take a generation and probably more to get back, if that is possible. Perhaps we should start teaching Civics in High Schools again. Maybe these are some moral values we can all agree on.