Why Do People Put Up with This?

We are back from two weeks travel back East. Mostly wonderful. But the return involved air travel. On a flight that was clearly canceled, but American Airlines refused to say it was canceled. FlightAware showed the plane had arrived at 7 pm the night before. But it was “delayed” for unspecified reasons.

There were no humans at any of the gates. Calling the airline offered no information and no good options. We were eventually rescued by an airline employee who said she could book us on another airline, but only if we pretended that my wife was disabled. I agreed and we thereby made it home.

The original flight actually did leave. Tweny-three hours and 28 minutes later. I have no idea how anyone else managed or who was still around for that flight.

When I was a child, airlines were regulated. Prices were slightly higher. But every city was served and no one was ever stranded this way. Compensation was offered for unavoidable problems. Europe still operates this way. United recently tried to strand us returning from Europe while lying about it. But European law eventually forced them to compensate us.

This is just one small example of a category: Why do people put up with this? Many examples involve transportation. People sit in traffic jams alone in their cars, wasting hundreds of millions of hours every day. While civilized countries offer high speed rail and fast local transit.

Some examples are matters of life and death. Notably, our utterly broken healthcare system. The system deliberately limits how many well-qualified people can become doctors, keeping costs high. We spend twice as much as any other country, yet outcomes are the worst among major countries. Tens of millions have no healthcare access at all.

We are told that socialized medicine causes long waits. In February I had a “minor” stroke. Often a precursor to a major stroke. I was offered appointments six to 12 months in the future. We have the worst of long waits, poor coverage, and high costs.

HIPAA rules make it almost impossible for different providers to share medical data. There is no way to sign a blanket order allowing your data to be shared as needed.

Other examples are just annoying. Computers are obsoleted every few years. Yet it requires weeks of labor to set everything up on a new computer.

How about time-wasting “security” systems? A six-digit code that expires in 15 minutes? And then still requires phone verification?

And phone trees that block speaking to a human? This wouldn’t be so bad if you were talking to a real AI. But these systems use 20-year-old technology.

How about being charged a steep “convenience fee” for tickets, where there is no other option? Biden tried to end this, but Trump restored the fees.

Software updates that are for their benefit, not yours? Subscription fees replacing actual ownership of software? Subscriptions that are impossible to cancel?

Products that cannot be repaired?

Fashion changes that no one wants? You finally find a pair of hiking boots that fit and you can never buy them again. The new ones are not better, just a different fit. “Fast fashion” styles become obsolete in months, wasting vast resources.

And speaking of resources, we have known for a century that we have to get off of fossil fuels. Yet U.S. industry and elected officials fight the changes that are inevitably needed. By the time the changes happen, entire states may be underwater.

Why do people put up with all of this? Because each person suffers alone. Rather than joining together to demand collective change. Americans have joined together in the past demanding change. They elected Teddy Roosevelt who broke up monopoly power. Then Franklin Roosevelt who gave us Social Security and the New Deal. Then Johnson gave us Medicare, which was supposed to become universal healthcare.

Now we have MAGA who just wants to see the other side suffer. And too many Democrats who have created an explosion of tiny, aggrieved groups.

The solution? Electing people who will work for the benefit of all.