Testing an idea:
The freerider problem is a key reason why state power grows unchecked, because the ones who try to resist carry all the burden of fighting, while the benefits if they win are widely shared among the people, including those who just remained passive as the fight against those who used to be in power went on.
People understand this intuitively, something which gives most of them incentives to be freeriders and let others take care of the resistance.
I notice this all the time - as people come up to me and say:
"Rune, I'm so glad you speak out on our behalf and write books that are important for society, and I would like to support you publicly, but you know I have a job in X and a family, and blah, blah, blah."
which I really have mixed feelings about, although it's probably better than not getting any feedback at all.
However, what I'm slowly getting to, is that this situation and the incentives shift dramatically when people realize that the state has become corrupt through and through and that the economy has been turned into a pile of dung.
At that point the network effects of continuing to adapt to the state and follow the lead of the corrupt are negative and grow exponentially every day, while in contrast joining the few who are still uncorrupted at an earliest possible stage may offer exponentially positive network effects.
Meaning: If you wait long before you join the good citizens who want to resist and fight the usurpers, you lose out immensely on the positive network effects you could have enjoyed if you weren't such an effin coward.
Think of it - there are reasons why those who remain loyal to tyrants until the empire fall often find it quite challenging to make new friends, while those who resisted and fought bravely when the rebels were just a small group become heroes that parents tell stories about to their children.
If this idea is valid, it should provide sufficient reason for you to jump down from the pile of dung (because today it most definitely is a p. o. d. ), wave goodbye to any corrupt associates you have become involved with (oh, yeah, just look around you, they are everywhere and all over the place) and...
Rebel the f up.
