Two observations:

I see lots and lots of people working hard on their jobs, striving hard to get promotions. I also see that we congratulate each other for these accomplishments, we pat each other on the back and say: "Congrats, job well done."

I also see a rise in threats of violence. Threats against elected officials are up. Threats against judges are up. Threats against election workers are up. Threats against citizens who voice their opinions are up. Up, up, up, way up.

When I consider these two observations my thoughts wander to this thing called "public goods", those goods that are, unlike the bagel and cup of coffee I had for breakfast this morning, non-exclusive and non-rival.

Domestic Tranquility seems to be a public good. I don't have to remind anyone that to "insure domestic Tranquility" is one of the goals set up for "We the People of the United States". It seems to me that we are not doing well at all in this regard. It seems to me that over the last fifty or so years we are actually regressing instead of making progress.

Perhaps this should come as no surprise, because Econ 101 teaches that there are fundamental under-provision issues, fundamental free-rider problems associated with the private provision of public goods.

Roughly, my marginal private costs of providing a public good are matched by my marginal private benefits from that public good. But the social marginal benefits are spread out over all residents who benefit from that public good. Hence inefficient under-provision. And why should I incur these costs if other people could incur them? Hence, free-riding.

So how are "We the People of the United States" going about to improve or insure domestic Tranquility? Who will step forward? And how? Might some of us be willing to shift our attention and effort from purely private pursuits like getting that promotion to this more public endeavor?

If that happens, the country might be better off, and some of us, many of us, most of us, all of us (?) might be able to sleep better at night and we might be able to focus better on our private pursuits because we don't have to worry as much about our safety and the safety of our loved ones.