Comment by Nevermark
10 hours ago
> You claiming that you “don’t have ideology” is exactly what I’m referring to. Yes you do. Everyone does, and every argument has an ideology behind it.
Ideology refers to groups of related ideas that people feel some kind of loyalty too, or priority for. For instance strong libertarians (who have trouble seeing the many limitations of their otherwise good ideas), strident capitalists, communists, etc.
I don't have any loyalty to any ideas beyond how much they make sense, and how relevant they are. Wherever you make sense I will readily adopt ideas from you.
> That’s why these resources are usually priced accessibly to the vast majority of the population. The goal is not to make money, the goal is to ensure the shared resource is utilized efficiently.
Here you do make sense. And it is true.
Public assets are often made available to the public, for private use, at their marginal costs. Which are much lower costs than a business or other large organization would be charged. Those organizations are expected to cover their share of both marginal and primary costs - which are much greater. But fees for the public generally only cover the marginal costs. I.e. if for potential clean up, avoid over booking (as you noted), or whatever.
Marginal costs provide a massive discount for individuals, but are not a subsidy either.
Perhaps that is the missing piece here.
The flexibility of the rail system to work with individuals is admirable. It provides enthusiasts the ability to renovate historically interesting artifacts and continue to give them life. Living connections to the past have a public cultural benefit. With harm done to none.
How can you be so sure that you’re evaluating ideas fairly? How can you be so sure you’re not biased? What if you have an intrinsic bias that you’re unaware of shaping every single decision you make? What if that bias was instilled into you purposefully by people who wanted their ideology to seem like the “rational” way of being?
You should be more skeptic of yourself.
I don't have any "beliefs", just best understandings at any give time, which I am constantly and actively improving.
Of course I don't know everything about anything. It floors me that people ever think they do. And that many are not motivated learners or listeners, even/often in the areas they most care about.
I can't make sense of your negative assessment of a few private cars paying their way on public tracks, already used by large organizations.
But the way you described public access in general was a good viewpoint, and that helped me clarify my own reasoning.
You didn't explicitly use the words marginal cost, but your description was very close to that, and it really struck me as the heart of the matter. A consistent way to think about moral economic policies for public things being made available to private parties, at serious discounts, but without public tax dollars subsidizing those private parties. (Unless subsidizing for everyone is the point, like libraries.)
All things being equal, it is morally wrong when taxes subsidize something only wealthy people can afford. That seems like a point of agreement.
Subtle distinctions can matter a lot, as it did here, so thank you.
Cheers!