Nathan Gardels at Noema:
The Achilles heel of consumer democracies is that there is precious little constituency for the future in the present. All the feedback signals — in politics, culture and the market — are geared to short-term gratification. In each case, the incentives of the system deliver what the most influential demographic wants, and when they want it, which is now.
From fast fashion to electoral contests to quarterly earnings reports, the system is responsive to the pursuit of happiness defined by the near horizon.
The consequence of this, which Harvard sociologist Daniel Bell argued more than half a century ago in his book, “The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism,” is that the present ends up eating the future to the detriment of the long-term sustainability of society. The recent Noema essay by Simon Curtis and Ian Klaus titled “Americans Are Losing The Long Game” is excellent on this point.
While state-guided dirigiste policies that champion and support strategic industries deemed critical for the future are roundly frowned upon in market economies, the opposite rigidity of the short-term consumerist mentality is less appreciated as a critical failure of good governance. Yet, unless societies prepare for, subsidize and invest in the kind of future they want, they will never get there.
More here.
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