Want to get attention? Manufacture a shortage
Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Few things motivate like the fear of being left out. Just look at how lines for flu shots have swelled as word spread of potential shortages. Or at the injury-causing stampede at a Florida Wal-Mart for a finite supply of $29 DVD players.
Maybe this is the kind of spark we need to cure some of society’s ills — the ones borne by a lack of motivation. If ho-hum is the reaction to abundance, just create a shortage and watch people respond. Here are some ideas:
Voter participation. Virtually every U.S. citizen 18 or older has the right to vote, yet most don’t bother in most elections. Let’s limit voting to, say, the first 50 percent of eligible voters who show up at the polls. That ought to get some attention.
High school graduation. Students in Washington soon will be required to pass tests in reading, writing and math to get a diploma, but scores on those tests remain distressingly low. Let’s ensure kids are well-prepared by allowing just four out of five to graduate. The first 80 percent to earn enough credits and pass the tests get diplomas. If that many do, the state graduation rate will have improved.
Weight loss. Health officials say obesity is an epidemic in the United States, yet there’s an abundance of health clubs. Maybe that’s the problem. If only the first, say, 500 people in Snohomish County who need to lose weight (you know who you are) were allowed a health-club membership, you might get a few thousand off their duffs to sign up. While we’re at it, let’s create shortages of fruits and vegetables and flood the market with Oreo cookies and Big Macs.
Medical/dental checkups. Effective as they are in preventing problems, and keeping society’s health-care costs down, they’re easy to put off. So require appointments to be made each year by March 31. (Just make sure doctors and dentists have an army on hand to answer the phones that day.)
If only it were that easy to get more people to take personal responsibility seriously. That’s where the real shortage appears to be.
